Katheirne Hitt / Flickr

Cops searching for a burglar from a case several blocks to the north came across a suspicious man in a car parked outside the alleged grower's house, and that prompted authorities to search the home:

Susan Slade photography for LA Weekly

That means that you're probably favoring the City Hall-sponsored Measure D, which would do just that and shut down as many as 9 out of 10 pot shops in town. The poll, however, is flawed:

Susan Slade Photography for LA Weekly

The fight over the future of L.A.'s marijuana dispensaries has made for some strange bedfellows. After trying to shut down all weed retailers in town, the Los Angeles City Council devised ballot Measure D, a law that would protect 100 or so of L.A.'s original pot ships while putting the rest out of business. Even onetime dispensary enemy Carmen Trutanich, the City Attorney, has said while on his reelection campaign trail that patients should be able to access their medicine.

But one powerful force in Los Angeles politics is just saying no to all three dispensary regulation proposals that will face you on the May 21 ballot:

Susan Slade Photography for LA Weekly

Medical marijuana measures D, E and F on L.A.'s May 21 ballot are incredibly high-stakes, and we do mean high. More than 1,000 dispensaries exist in L.A., taking in tens of millions of dollars annually and attracting 100,000-plus clients. Success at the polls will determine which of them get to stay open -- and which must close their doors.

There are three rival measures. To win, a measure must get more yes than no votes. But if more than one reaches that level of support, the one with the highest total of yes votes wins. If no votes outweigh the positives for all three measures, nothing changes -- we continue in the current limbo.

Here's what you need to know to take sides:

Cheech & Chong

The problem inspired one California legislator to propose a law that would trigger a DUI case for anyone whose blood test shows even a trace of cannabis in their system. That could be problematic if you're a medical patient who toked yesterday but was stopped by police today. Even worse: A pot breathalyzer might be on the horizon:

LA Weekly

It's possible. Supporters of a May 21 measure that would let more than 100 marijuana dispensaries in L.A. survive warned voters this week that the City Council could see enough turnover in the election that cannabis opponents could have the votes to try yet another ban:

Susan Slade Sanchez for LA Weekly

Too late? After unsuccessfully trying to ban dispensaries, the L.A. City Council is backing a May 21 ballot initiative that would allow 100 or so of the marijuana businesses to survive:

Star Foreman for LA Weekly

Maybe. New research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting over the weekend says smoking cigarettes appears to be a gateway to marijuana use among college-age Americans:

Susan Slade Sanchez for L.A. Weekly

Good news, perhaps, for the marijuana nation. The poll, however, has flaws that even backers of the pro-dispensary law, called Measure F, acknowledge:

1cognito / Flickr

In an amazing sign of the country's changing attitudes toward pot, the U.S. Supreme Court said sure, why not? Have that cannabis. Don't worry about being sent back to where ever, even if you're a "noncitizen:"

Photo by Timothy Norris

Tommy Chong

Tommy Chong

Tommy Chong is perhaps the biggest celebrity on this list, as a longtime comedian, movie star and half of the still-working duo Cheech & Chong. He is both a hero, as a longtime marijuana advocate, and a martyr, as a veteran of nine months in federal prison for running a bong business.

Chong has been honored for his advocacy in many places, such as his High Times Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Cup. But it's also worth remembering his role as cultural warrior.

LASD

Those confections that give you more than a sugar high are available at quite a few dispensaries in L.A. They call the treats "edibles." Despite California's medical marijuana law, some cops call them illegal:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev via the FBI

Already, West Coast cannabis proponent Russ Belville of the "Russ Belville Show" podcast is defending weed and calling out others for calling out pot:

Rob Lee/Flickr

Why does America try to get high on April 20, ideally at 16:20 hours? Everyone knows the answer. April 20 can be written 4/20, and 16:20 hours is 4:20 p.m. We wait only for a future U.S. Congress to officially declare 420 National Pot Smoking Day. But how did this time and date get permanently inscribed in the minds of stoners?

Holiday, as we all know, comes from "holy day." In parts of the world, St. Patrick's Day still has strong religious connotations related to Ireland's patron saint. In others, it is solely dedicated to the veneration of leprechauns and alcohol.

The new holiday of 420 may be secular, but like St. Patrick's Day, featuring drinks ranging from Guinness to Irish Car Bombs, 420 has its own sacrament, the wacky weed. Just as it's always 5 p.m. somewhere in the world, as the drinkers among us rationalize, any time of the day can be 420, the perfect moment to wake and bake.

BlaisOne/Flickr

From papers to pipes, bongs to bowls, filter tips to vaporizers, what are the latest in smoking accessories?

Undoubtedly the most iconic way to consume marijuana is by smoking a marijuana cigarette. But no one ever says that. They say, "smoking a joint." Or a blunt. Or a fatty. Or, when pot is scarce, a toothpick.

Smoking joints has come under a cloud in the last few years, for some of the same reasons smoking un-funny cigarettes has plummeted in popularity: the smoke, tar, ashes and assorted poisons can irritate the lungs and throat.

Blind Nomad

Maybe that's because cops on Tuesday raided the place as part of what authorities claim is a gang-related "criminal enterprise" that uses "violence and intimidation to expand their operations and dissuade competition:"

eggrole / Flickr

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher introduced legislation over the weekend that would require federal authorities to respect the legality of cannabis in medical-marijuana states and fully legal states (Colorado and Washington):

Patrick Morris / Flickr

Apparently you do. An internal poll by the folks backing May ballot Measure D, which would do just that, shows that likely voters favor the proposed city law by a rate of 52 percent. Opponents of the would-be ordinance don't seem to disagree with that:

File photo of a dispensary by Dominic Simpson

Detectives say the genius who pulled the trigger got the wrong guy: The passenger in a car outside the pot shop was the target, but the driver, 25-year-old Alex Moran, was fatally shot.

DCAN 1 / L.A. Weekly Flickr pool

Still, a new study suggests that potheads are more likely than non-tokers to abuse other drugs, mainly prescription medications: