Marijuana Dispensary Numbers in L.A. Much Lower Than City Claims, Says UCLA

By Dennis Romero Tue., Sep. 11 2012 at 8:04 AM

Dank Depot / Flickr

A recent UCLA count only found 472 dispensaries operating in the city of Los Angeles, despite claims by the L.A. City Attorney's office that there might be as many as 1,046 of them.

In 2009 LA Weekly called every listed pot shop in L.A. and counted 545.

UCLA associate professor of social welfare Bridget Freisthler says she used only the city's data and concluded, according to a press release, that ...

... only 472 were actually operating as dispensaries.

That would discount arguments that every time the city tries to regulate cannabis retailers, the number of them seems to double.

That might have been the case in 2009 after a 2007 "moratorium" on shops only led to an explosion.

UCLA

After a 2010 attempt to outlaw most dispensaries was met with defiance it appeared that the number nearly doubled again, from that 545 to more than 1,000.

But that's not so, says the recent UCLA count.

Freisthler took the city's list of "875 unique locations, including 762 dispensaries registered with the city," and discovered that the number was much less, at 472.

The City Attorney's office last month sent warning letters regarding the city's now defunct ban to 1,774 locations, although some were duplicates that included both landlords and operators. The number of shops was estimated by the city to be 1,046.

Why would the city lie? Well, it's possible that City Hall wanted to make this thing look like it's out of control so that it will get your support for its ban.

UCLA notes that ...

... The number of medical marijuana dispensaries currently in operation in Los Angeles is roughly the same as the number of bars in the city, and it represents roughly 20 percent of the number of off-premise outlets that sell alcohol, such as liquor and grocery stores ...

But -- and this is a huge but -- we've been told by good sources that rogue, off-the-books dispensaries have been opening in the last year or so in an attempt to take advantage of the green gold rush before a city ban takes effect. It appears that UCLA failed to try to to account for these.

By the way, the city's latest ban on dispensaries was supposed to happen Sept. 6. It's on hold in the wake of a city referendum that would ask voters to overturn it.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

dispensary, dispensary ban, marijuana, medical marijauana, UCLA

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monkeymasuda

@LAWeekly #MEDICALMARIJUANA how much more info do they need http://t.co/ragrFFXa

WeMissMarcCooper

"It appears that UCLA failed to try to to account for these." What did they fail to account for? Your theory? Your conjecture? I thought the job of journalists was to report fact. If "dispensaries have been opening in the last year or so in an attempt to take advantage of the green gold rush before a city ban takes effect" is a true fact, why not properly cite this fact? Why not supply some empirical evidence? If you don't, it's just hype. UCLA is under no obligation to account for your yellow journalism. Since this paper changed ownership it has become more like TMZ than an alternative newspaper.

MartineJ

What's really killing med marijuana in Los Angeles??? Another broken campaign promise by our buddy Barack!!! Almost twice the number of mmj clinics have been shut down, raided or both in the last 3.5 years than in 8 years off repub rule! Dems want the power and repubs want the power at the state level, it's called the tenth amendment! Each state has the right to write and enact legislation based on its own citizens wants and needs!

http://bigbudsmag.com/grow/article/rise-fall-of-medical-marijuana-dispensaries

malcolmkyle16 topcommenter

May I agree, we just need to throw a few more trillion dollars at this. Give the police total power and proper weapons—like Death-Rays that work on large crowds. Take away, forever, what's left of everybody's stupid rights and liberties, indulge ourselves in even more wishful thinking or bizarre pseudo-science, then, before more hippies or the pathetically ill & dying get a chance to corrupt and endanger our truly caring society with their evil plants, send all our children to Newt's Moon Colony of re-education to be taught about marital fidelity.