Chatsworth Pot Shop Crackdown a Model for L.A.

Anyone who follows the issue of medical marijuana in Los Angeles may want to look closely at what happened in the Police Department's Devonshire Division recently.

It took three years, but police in the Devonshire Division announced in the last week that they had closed the last medical marijuana dispensary in the area, according to . When they began, there were around 60 pot shops in the area.

The North Hollywood area currently has roughly the same number of pot shops that Devonshire had when the crackdown began. So far, the North Hollywood Division has not made a major effort to shut down the dispensaries, but were a ban to be implemented by the city, or were the North Hollywood Division to begin a crackdown of its own, Devonshire gives a glimpse into the police effort that would be required.

The Devonshire Division closed 37 pot shops and seized 30 guns, $2 million in cash and nine kilos of cocaine, in addition to a ton of marijuana, according to the Los Angeles Times. Seventy-four people were arrested and all are facing felony charges. It would seem that many of the shops that were not shut down by the police in the Devonshire district felt the heat and closed voluntarily.

According to Patch's unofficial count, there are at least 57 pot shops currently operating in the North Hollywood Division's patrol area, as well as a handful of delivery services. (See a full list below.) The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office estimates there are more than 300 marijuana dispensaries currently operating in the city, down from more than 800 in 2007.

Recently, a movement has been underway at Los Angeles City Hall to on medical marijuana dispensaries, called "gentle" because it would not ban access to medical marijuana by patients who need it, only the dispensaries selling it. (What do you think? Take the poll below.) Closing down all the shops would be no small effort, considering the hard-line approach in Devonshire took three years to accomplish.

The city has shown it . Shops owners have also shown that they are not easily scared. Despite more than 200 shops being  for not registering for a lottery that would allow only 100 shops to stay open in the entire city, more than a dozen of those shops remain open in the North Hollywood area alone. It now appears as if that lottery may never take place, but it does speak volumes that so many shops were not scared into closing after the city warned them in a letter that it could sue violators, seek financial penalties and padlock their properties.

The Los Angeles City Attorney has taken action and sued some shops, including . There have also been occasional city-backed raids, including one that . But despite all this pressure, new shops continue to open and are not contacted by the city.

The owner of , who asked not to be identified by name, told Patch he had not been contacted by the city after opening last summer, and he was not afraid of being shut down.

"We have no idea because everything's alright right now," he said. "We haven't heard anything."

Different LAPD Divisions, Different Attitudes

The Devonshire Division police saw no flexibility in the Compassionate Use initiative of 1996, which allowed adults with a doctor's recommendation to possess and cultivate marijuana. Devonshire Det. Robert Holcomb told the Los Angeles Times that he believed every single pot shop in the city was engaged in illegal activity.

"I've been working narcotics for 25 years," Holcomb told the Times. "It used to be, the hardest thing was to find the dealer. Now they put a big green cross on the door and advertise on the Internet."

The LAPD's North Hollywood Division has had an entirely different approach to pot shops and taken a hands-off attitude. And while Devonshire police insisted the shops had led to an increase in crime in the area, many North Hollywood police officials have said the opposite.

"It's a complicated issue and we are not working on closing them down right now," Senior Lead Officer Mike Lewis, who patrols Studio City, told Patch in late 2011. "And for the most part we have had little or no crime problems with them in our area." 

Toluca Lake Senior Lead Officer Robert Benavidez added, "We can't really attribute any crime trends to any of the stores we have in the area."

Crime statistics support the officers' observations. Last year, violent crime fell 10 percent in the North Hollywood Division's patrol area, and crime citywide was .

It's unclear how much political support there is to pass an outright ban. Councilmembers Paul Krekorian and Tom LaBonge, who represent the North Hollywood Division's patrol area, have given middle-of-the-road answers to Patch when asked about the issue of medical marijuana. (See those stories and .) The the ban being considered by the City Council.

Two years ago, the City Council approved an ordinance that was supposed to shut down most dispensaries but it has been stalled by legal challenges. Special Assistant City Attorney Jane Usher told the Studio City Neighborhood Council more than 70 lawsuits are pending against the city because of her office's attempts at regulating the businesses. She said the proposed by the city and the existing ordinance will never be implemented.

Usher also mentioned the increased federal pressure. In October, federal prosecutors announced that dispensaries in California or face civil or criminal prosecution. That position was a reversal of a federal hands-off policy that had been in place since President Obama took office. As a warning when the federal crackdown was announced, a , a shop in Orange County and stores in Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Rancho Santa Margarita, Riverside County and the Inland Empire. Since that time there have been no more federal actions in the city in regard to pot shops.

How Many Shops in North Hollywood Area?

Below is a list of the medical marijuana facilities that appear to be operating in the LAPD North Hollywood Division's patrol area, which includes the Cahuenga Pass, most of North Hollywood, Valley Village, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen east of the Tujunga Wash, most of Studio City and a small part of Sun Valley.

This list is an estimate. With shops changing names, closing and opening all the time, it's difficult to get a precise number.

Cahuenga Pass

3177 W.Cahuenga blvd, Los Angeles 90068

3625 Cahuenga Blvd W, Los Angeles, CA 90068

Studio City

11048 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11644 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12406 Ventura Blvd # B, Studio City, CA 91604

12021 1/2 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11640 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11644 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11644 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11557 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

13201 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604 (This is in the Van Nuys Division's patrol area)

11101 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11306 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

10964 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11705 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

North Hollywood

12736 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605

12919 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605

4838 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

12032 Vose St, North Hollywood, CA 91605

11428 Vanowen St, North Hollywood, CA 91605

7241 Hinds Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91605

11475 Oxnard St, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6006 Vantage Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91606

5430 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5040 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601

6240 Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

13432 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605

5656 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

12518 Vanowen St, North Hollywood, CA 91605 

7442 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91605

7442 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91605

4701 Lankershim Blvd Unit B, North Hollywood, CA 91602

5034 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5651 1/2 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11100 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

8002 Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood, CA

7422 Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood, CA

11436 Hatteras St, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5056 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

6446 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

13122 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605

7503 Laurel Canyon Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91605

11651 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605

4720 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91602

10540 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6141 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91606

12518 Vanowen St, North Hollywood, CA 91605

Valley Glen

12439 Victory Blvd, Valley Glen, CA 91606

12517 Oxnard St, North Hollywood, CA 91606

5940 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Glen, CA 91607

Valley Village

5507 Laurel Canyon Blvd Ste C, Valley Village, CA 91607

4741 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607

12410 Burbank Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607

12458 Magnolia Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607

CSC 12038 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village, CA (Patch cannot fill out a business listing for this shop because it does not have a phone number, but it is open for business as of Feb 2.)

Toluca Lake

APC - 10714 1/4 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake, 91602 (It is not 100 percent clear if APC is still open for business)

Sun Valley

Valley Holistic Caregivers 7200 Vineland ave Suite 205, Sun Valley 91352

Platinum Collective 7121 Vineland Ave Suite B, North Hollywood 91605