Legal News

Cooley and Trutanich move forward with med-marijuana suits

By Richard Binder

Making good on their promises to take aggressive action against illegal marijuana dispensaries, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and City Atty. Carmen Trutanich have snapped into action.

Jeff Joseph, the operator of Venice-area outlet Organica, was charged yesterday with 24 felonies, including selling, transporting and possessing marijuana. His bail was set at $520,000.

Joseph has been a target of law enforcement for two years. Undercover investigators have made repeated buys and his dispensary has been raided three times, most recently last Thursday, when he was arrested. Joseph reopened his establishment after the second raid in an attempt to comply with the city's medical marijuana ordinance, which states that dispensaries that registered with the city in 2007 can remain open if they were still in operation.  That law has yet to go into effect.

Suits have also been filed against two locations of Holistic Caregivers in South Los Angeles. Additionally, Trutanich's office sent letters to 18 landlords warning that the dispensaries renting their property are violating state and local drug laws and that the landlords could face legal action.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 23, 2010 (boomark / email).