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 [ 420 FILE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=370)

#  Los Angeles: Why Only 147 Pot Permits Issued Since January 1st, NONE in the Past 19 Days?

May 28 2018

Written by Jay Handal.

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POT PERMIT WATCH-Time to overhaul the cannabis department and the system of permits and licensing of pot in Los Angeles.

Rogue shops are proliferating in our city, and LAPD is **not** shutting down the illegal shops fast enough. DWP is **not** shutting off power to illegal shops. And the city is **not** fully licensing legal shops in a timely manner.

Landlords are **not** being fined for leasing to illegal shops. Illegal delivery companies are **not** being monitored. Pot taxes are too high and plans to slash those taxes have gone up in smoke while the black market thrives.

So, who’s in charge? And when will they start to listen?

State legislators have screwed up again. It makes you wonder if the “No” on Prop 64 voters are taking in money from the black market.

Yet the silliness is on-going.

Everyone who can count realizes that the gold at the end of the pot rainbow will never materialize as long as greedy politicians -- who have no idea how to spend our money on basics rather than on PORK – maintain control of the piggy bank they raid on a regular basis.

The facts are clear: the average pot consumer, spending only $60 per week, will pay $1,000 more per year than a medical patient will spend for the same product. *If*the city and state really expect to see revenues, they should get their collective heads out of their XXXXs and see the light. Pigs get slaughtered. Bears and bulls make money.

How about they start representing *all of us* and not just themselves and their special interests?

*(Jay Handal is Co-Chair of the NC Budget Advocates, treasurer of the West Los Angeles NC and Los Angeles Police Commission Hearing Examiner. He is also a consultant to the cannabis industry. Mr. Handal’s views are his own.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.*

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