Illegal Pot Shops: LA Wants to Shut Your Power Off

The inner chambers of the City of Los Angeles have devised a clever scheme to rid the jurisdiction of all of those dastardly illegal pot shops that can’t seem to understand that they need a license to sell weed. Cut their power supply! The big idea here, which we can’t seem to decide if it is just basic, genius or both, is to shut off the electricity and water to illegal marijuana businesses and force them to try and operate in the dark. And then once those scofflaws of the system realize that selling cannabis products by candlelight is a royal pain, perhaps they will regroup and join the legal circle or vanish from the scene entirely. Los Angeles doesn’t care which.

This is the brand of fury that would be unleashed under a proposed ordinance that was proposed last week during a Los Angeles City Council meeting. It is the latest among some less-than-effective methods the council has examined in hopes of eliminating the hundreds of marijuana shops operating illegally across the city.

The proposal, which advanced on Tuesday without any objections, could become the all-powerful kill switch for those cannabis companies that haven’t figure out yet how the game is played.

It’s the best move the city can make to eliminate these cockroaches from crevasses of legitimate business, the council believes.

“Shutting down the utilities for an operation that’s illegally operating, it’s a no-brainer, it’s just that simple,” City Councilwoman Nury Martinez said, according to NBC Los Angeles. “By operating in a community illegally you are creating havoc, you’re not playing by the rules, you should get shut down.”

Even the Cannabis Regulation Commission is fully onboard with the plan, which, for whatever reason, has not been deemed Operation: Lights Out. Commission President Robert Ahn stepped up during the meeting to offer his feelings on the matter. He says the one subject the cannabis industry and the community it serves can agree on is that enforcement is a crucial part of the plan. So, if the city is going to continue allowing pot to be sold in a veritable Thunderdome, well, what’s the point?

“It’s just common sense,” Ahn said. “If you create laws, what good are the laws if they cannot be enforced?”

This attitude, of course, translates to off with their heads… or lights… whatever!

Although marijuana is legal in California, cannabis businesses are required to hold a license from both the state and the city of operation to remain in compliance with the law. There are reportedly 180 cannabis companies in the Los Angeles area that have disregarded this all-important aspect of dealing weed in the newly legal climate. It is for this reason that the city feels “this ordinance is required for the immediate protection of the public peace, health and safety.”

Los Angeles wants to chop the head off this snake before it spirals out of control even more. All of its previous efforts, including the filing more than 100 criminal complaints just last September, have not done much to change the situation.

“Unauthorized cannabis activity in the city continues to proliferate, with the attendant crime and negative secondary impacts that pose a current and immediate threat to the public welfare,” the proposed ordinance reads.

And since it would likely be frowned up by some for city officials to show up at the doors of these illegal cannabis businesses armed with a box of tacks and rubbing alcohol, the city has found that giving these operations a taste of the dark ages is probably the best possible method for controlling the problem.

“Authorizing the Department of Water and Power to disconnect utilities at locations at which unauthorized cannabis activity is occurring will allow the city to promptly address these threats to the public peace, health and safety,” the ordinance concludes.    

This crackdown could happen relatively fast. The Los Angeles City Council is set to vote on the ordinance on Friday, March 8. If it passes, the Department of Water and Power might have a busy weekend ahead of them.

TELL US, do you think cutting off the power to illegal dispensaries is a good plan for enforcement?