New Wrinkle With California MMJ Regs

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A serious wrinkle has emerged with statewide medical cannabis regulations recently passed by the California Legislature: they could conceivably force every dispensary in Los Angeles to close.

That’s because the new rules require both a city and a state permit for dispensaries to keep operating, and Los Angeles doesn’t offer any permits currently. Rather, the city only provides “limited immunity” from prosecution and leaves marijuana businesses still in a kind of legal limbo.

Fortunately, a fix is supposedly on the way, according to L.A. Weekly.

A spokeswoman for the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance told the paper she’s confident that either the city council or the state legislature will pass cleanup laws to fix the situation so that L.A. dispensaries aren’t run out of business.

“We’ve already started working on that,” the spokeswoman, dispensary owner Yami Bolanos, told the paper. “We’re in the process of hiring a lobbyist and we’re talking to City Council.”

A spokesman for Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a key player in getting the rules passed, said the lawmaker is already planning to introduce further clarifying legislation in January, when the legislature reconvenes.