Luck Has Major Influence on Whether Certain Los Angeles Dispensaries Will Remain Open

Over 200 Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Dispensaries are all crossing their fingers in the hope that they will be allowed to continue legal operation.

As a solution to the Los Angeles dispensary dispute, the city council has adopted a lottery system. Of the 200 plus dispensaries who are said to have been submitted for the lottery, only 100 slots will be allocated. Only those 100 dispensaries will be given the green light to continue, while those whose luck wasn't so great, and those acting without the consent of the city will be aggressively shut down.

The Los Angeles city attorney's office believes there to be several hundreds of dispensaries operating within the city limits. Los Angeles adopted a moratorium on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in September of 2007 and that is the date that the city has decided to be the cutoff for the lottery. Any dispensary that registered on or before that date--believed by the city to be approximately 185, of which 135 are still believed to be in operation--will be entered into the lottery.

The city council admits that with its limited staff and resources, the application approval process, and eventual lottery will take considerable time.