CA to Shed Jobs by CLOSING More Than 200 Marijuana Dispensaries

As the state’s job growth stalls and unemployment soars California looks to eliminate jobs in a burgeoning industry; medical marijuana, by shutting down more than 200 medical marijuana dispensaries! Currently, Los Angeles officials are demanding that 141 medical marijuana dispensaries shut down immediately. And last week, San Jose’s Vice Mayor, Madison Nguyen plus three of his council members signed a proposal that looks to shut down 100 clubs, limiting the number of dispensaries to just 10. To make things more dramatic, these impeding closings are happening despite the fact that both these cities have forced clubs to pay additional taxes!

Not only does boarding up marijuana dispensaries put people out of work, it increases the cost and decreases the availability of medicine. Plus, closing nearly every dispensary but a fraction of ’em in each city creates a monopoly for the few that remain open, further fueling our current class war! AGAIN the rich get richer! There’s nearly a million people living in San Jose and an estimated 30-50,000 are legal medical marijuana patients who will not only pay outrageous prices and exorbitant taxes for their meds but are limited to only ten stores from which to get their medication.

Sure, like every city in California, San Jose officials have struggled to agree on how to regulate marijuana dispensaries since the Obama administration said they’d stop fucking with medical marijuana dispensaries complying with the law, but shutting nearly all of them down isn’t the answer. Where’s the tax revenue in closing business? San Jose, a city of nearly a million people, just slightly smaller than SF has about three times the amount of pot clubs as San Francisco currently and less strict regulations according to San Jose Mayor, Chuck Reed. So Reed and three SJ city council members are meeting up on April 12, 2011 to not only come up with some new regulation plans but to also decide on ways to shut down nearly every dispensary in their city.

Haters in southern California are getting serious about closing down their burgeoning marijuana scene as well by gutting as many as 141 medical marijuana dispensaries. And much like San Jose, the news of these demands comes just after LA voters slapped marijuana patients with an extra 5% tax on Tuesday, approving Measure M by 59% of the vote. Great. And get this, Sacramento is due to impose a four percent voter-approved medical pot tax on July 1.

Like the tax hikes in San Jose, Measure M places a tax on something our Federal Government still considers a Schedule I narcotic and against the law, plus it creates a new conflict between the state and the feds by allowing a city to reap revenue from organizations selling contraband! Measure M mandates the collection of $50 in taxes for every thousand dollars from medical marijuana sales despite even acknowledging or respecting that marijuana is a medicine or even crediting that selling that medicine is a source of much-needed tax dollars or that selling marijuana from licensed dispensaries, many of whom welcome regulation, might actually help put criminal drug gangs out of business!

“Any kind of money that we can bring in to help shore up our budget gap I think is important,” said L.A. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn. “It’s going to go to help us save jobs. It’s going to go help us keep our libraries open, to ensure vital city services.”

Whose jobs are being saved and what vital city services remain when dispensaries are closed? As desperate and confused as Hanas sounds, she estimates the tax hike will bring in at least $10 million in revenue…on the backs of sick people. But that was Tuesday, and those numbers are based on all of LA’s dispensaries prior to any of these closures so…that number should decrease if the majority of the clubs are closed, right? And, if buying weed from a dispensary is so dangerous like many say and with all the new taxes making it more expensive than street prices…maybe patients are better off skipping the tax hike and buying weed from drug dealers?

Despite the new taxes being a lucrative revenue stream, earlier in the week, Asha Greenberg, an assistant city attorney, sent letters to the operators and landlords of 141 dispensaries in LA, informing them they must close or face legal action. Again, where’s the tax revenue in that?



5 Responses to “CA to Shed Jobs by CLOSING More Than 200 Marijuana Dispensaries”

  1. Bubblemaster

    awesome article. the headline is kick ass. your take on the problem is perfect. loss of jobs. these dispensaries are employing plenty of people in an otherwise downward economy. not a smart move by government. then again when does government do anything smart.

  2. zak p

    Great Story and i further the fact that its time for an uprising, Its time to recognize the fault of patients as well, WE ALL AS PATIENTS need to start voiceing our thoughts NOT SOME PATIENTS!!, ALL OF THEM!!!!! ITS TIME for the next Million man march straight to the white house and other governing bodies to tell them that WE the People want an end to Cannabis Prohibition. Lets storm the white house and let AMERICA see the Secret Service Attacking Sick patietns simply seeking relief from the ackes and pains of life that created this country to begin with.i promise you the entire Country Will Change its mind about cannabis. The time is Now The means to a New era Begins with Us!

  3. Big Dude

    ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

    Natural Choice Collective was visited by the freindly Local and Fed law enforcement today. Maybe they’ll stay open, maybe not. WTF is up in La Puente? I guess they only want liquor stores and meth dealers.

  4. smith

    yes its my real email all y’all listen and listen good our economy is in a down fall regardless because of obama and members of congress being greedy s.o.b’s if they would shut there freaking mouths long enough to realize the mistakes made, we would not be in this in this situation in the first place. The war on drugs is BULL SHIT in it’s highest form costing you and Me 13.7 billion a year. The jails are overcrowded now due to the arrests of marijuana users every 37 seconds and several other ideas gone wrong. Did y’all know that if we stop the imports and exports we could supply ourselves. We need to look out for ourselves first and them later. In all honesty I know alot of good people who could do a much better job than the curent people who hold office positions in government.

  5. BOYCOTT 420 unfriendly cities

    COME TO TOGETHER. Let the merchants of 420 unfriendly cities know they will be boycotted if the ban continues. DO NOT BUY IN SANTA FE SPRINGS> spread the word

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