L.A.’s cannabis crackdown

City attorney unveils 36 criminal cases in an operation targeting unlicensed marijuana dispensaries.

City Atty. Mike Feuer unveils 36 criminal cases targeting illicit dispensaries.

This year, California became the latest state to allow the farming and selling of marijuana for recreational use, opening doors to one of the largest markets in the world and marking a milestone for the cannabis industry.

But with every high comes a low.

As a limited number of licensed shops have tried to keep up with demand, illegal dispensaries have continued to do business, undercutting those playing by the rules.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer and Los Angeles police officials announced the filing of 36 criminal cases involving 140 people and 32 shops as part of a citywide crackdown on unlicensed dispensaries.

“If you’re operating an illegal cannabis shop and selling recreational marijuana, you’re going to be subject to prosecution,” Feuer said at a news conference.

Lt. Stacy Spell of the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division said the department since Jan. 1 had made 160 arrests, served 54 search warrants, seized about $300,000 and removed 29 guns from the street.

Spell said investigators were focusing on storefronts where crime appears to increase and working with agencies such as the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Department of Water and Power to help shut down illegal businesses.

Feuer said businesses operating illegally would face a $1,000 fine per violation and up to six months in jail.

He said he hoped the announcement of the city’s enforcement would encourage some illegal operators to shut down and not risk prosecution.

Feuer said his office was preparing to send ceaseand-desist letters to many more unlicensed pot shops. He could not immediately say how many businesses would get the letters.

Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, whose district includes a portion of South L.A., where a third of the illegal pot shops were operating, said constituents have complained for years about illegal dispensaries.

“This is a problem all over the city of Los Angeles, from Venice to the West Valley, down to San Pedro,” HarrisDawson said.

For cannabis industry figures, the enforcement is crucial to their success.

“We applaud the city for doing this,” said Adam Spiker, executive director of the Southern California Coalition, a marijuana industry group. “You can’t have a regulated industry without strong enforcement.”

Alex Traverso, a spokesman for California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control, said the bureau had issued 354 licenses for recreational retailers and 413 for medicinal. Separately, the Department of Food and Agriculture has issued about 3,900 licenses to cultivators.

In Los Angeles, licenses have been issued to more than 100 marijuana retailers, but police officials estimate that there are at least two times that number operating illegally in the city.

ruben.vives@latimes.com