Los Angeles looks to break up vast illegal pot sales

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
March 27, 2019

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that Los Angeles is considering a major crackdown on illegal marijuana shops that have been bedeviling the city’s legal marketplace.

The move that could pump tens of millions of dollars into police enforcement comes as legal shops struggle to turn a profit while hundreds of illicit storefronts enjoy brisk sales, thanks to their typically cheaper, tax-free prices.

The legal shops “can’t get undercut every single day by everybody else that’s out there,” the mayor told reporters at City Hall.

The Democratic mayor in his second term didn’t put a precise figure on the spending for the city’s upcoming budget, but he estimated it would be a ten-fold increase from the current year.

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