77 Percent Of L.A. Residents Favor Dispensaries; Majority of West Coasters Want To Legalize Pot

Dear Weed: We love you, and we don't want you to go away. Signed, California
(Photo by Coaster 420)

By Steve Elliott in Chronic City

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley may have believed he was safely playing to the grandstands when he promised to shut down all of L.A.'s estimated 800 to 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries, magnanimously declaring that "approximately zero" of the dispensaries were operating legally in exchanging weed for cash. But perhaps Cooley should check his numbers: In a new poll taken this week and released today, the reaction of Los Angelenos sounds more like a chorus of boos and hisses.

​More than three-quarters of the voters (77 percent ) in Los Angeles County want to see medical marijuana dispensaries regulated, rather than prosecuted and forced to close, according to the poll, funded by a pro-pot advocacy group and completed Monday and Tuesday. The poll also found that 74 percent support the California's medical marijuana law, while 54 percent want to see marijuana completely legalized, regulated and taxed.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a national organization that supports marijuana legalization, commissioned the poll by independent firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, after Cooley threatened every dispensary operator in the county with arrest and prosecution. Cooley, along with newly elected L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, claim that the dispensaries are selling marijuana for profit in violation of state law.

Read the rest at Chronic City in the SF Weekly blog, "The Snitch": Chronic City: 77 Percent Of L.A. Residents Favor Dispensaries; Majority of West Coasters Want To Legalize Pot