LA pot dispensaries multiply despite ban

LOS ANGELES, June 3 (UPI) -- A loophole in a Los Angeles moratorium banning new medical marijuana dispensaries has allowed hundreds of new ones to open, city officials say.

Police told city officials this week than an estimated 600 storefronts dispensing medical marijuana are now open inside the city limits, despite a ban on new storefronts that has been in effect as the City Council has struggled for a year to craft an ordinance governing them, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

The loophole allows marijuana dispensary owners to apply for a hardship exemption from the moratorium and the entrepreneurs discovered the city attorney has not been prosecuting the 508 dispensaries that have claimed the hardship, the newspaper said.

Alarmed neighborhood residents reportedly blame city officials for allowing a proliferation of the storefronts, many adorned with recognizable cannabis-leaf logos.

"The city of LA has failed us on this issue," Michael Larsen, public safety director with the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council told the Times. "There's a huge loophole. LA city's not watching. LA city's not enforcing."

A City Council committee moved to close the loophole Tuesday by striking the hardship exemption from the moratorium, observers said.