City Attorney Sues To Shut Down Pot Delivery Smartphone App
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — More than 400 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city have been closed, and Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer says he is now taking aim against the creator of a pot delivery app.
Officials say the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has filed more than 200 criminal cases against 743 defendants, including both dispensary operators and property owners, effectively closing 402 medical marijuana dispensaries in the 17 months since Feuer took office.
"My office has moved aggressively to shut down unlawful medical marijuana businesses, already closing half the dispensaries operating in Los Angeles," Feuer said in a statement. "And today we're taking action on a new front, tackling medical marijuana delivery."
Nestdrop, also used for alcohol deliveries, announced in October that it planned to expand into medical marijuana delivery. That started in mid-
November, Feuer said.
Feuer wants a Superior Court judge to issue a cease-and-desist order that would stop Nestdrop LLC from delivering pot, contending that it is doing business unlawfully and circumventing Proposition D, which limited the number of medical pot dispensaries int hecity.
Nestdrop co-founder Michael Pycher said the company is "saddened by the city attorney's recent attempt to restrict patient's access to their legal
medicine" and plans to fight the legal action.
Nestdrop is not acting as a "dispensary, collective, grower or even a delivery service," but is the "technology platform that connects law-abiding
medical marijuana patients with local dispensaries to receive the medication that they need in a safe and secure manner," Pycher said.
"Our goal is make access to this legal medicine convenient for patients who truly need it -- especially as many of these suffering patients may have
limited mobility and may be unable to visit a dispensary unassisted," and he said he does not "understand why the city is trying to restrict their access
to the important medicine."
The case is being spearheaded by Assistant City Attorney Asha Greenberg.