Grunion Gazette, 11 Oct 2012 – Law enforcement officials Wednesday raided and shut down seven different medical marijuana dispensaries that were operating illegally in the city. According to officials, the seven dispensaries were chosen based on the most total number of community complaints that the Long Beach Police Department had received. The LBPD, Drug Enforcement Administration, State of California Franchise Tax Board, Long Beach Fire Department and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office conducted the joint operation. Dispensaries and large-scale cultivation sites have been banned in the city since Aug. 12.

Grunion Gazette, 10 Aug 2012 – A medical marijuana collective near Long Beach’s border with Lakewood was granted permission to stay open past the city’s Aug. 12 ban deadline. On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin issued a temporary restraining order, which will prevent city officials from closing the Eartheart medical marijuana dispensary, 1940 Del Amo Ave.

Grunion Gazette, 08 Aug 2012 – The medical marijuana landscape in Long Beach will shift again, if just a little bit, this Sunday, when an exemption runs out and all dispensaries will be considered illegal in the city. The issue, however, is far from finished. Currently, the original Long Beach medical marijuana regulation law is before the California Supreme Court. The City Council decided earlier this year that until a decision comes from the high court, they would enact a ban ordinance, with a six-month exemption for about 18 dispensaries that had gone through the lengthy city approval process, which included a lottery.

Grunion Gazette, 08 Jun 2011 – Medical marijuana issues continue to simmer in the background, as the city conducts its day-to-day business – but this week could bring some clarity to how the city is dealing with collectives operating without a permit. During the past year, the City Council has passed restrictions on medical marijuana collectives, requiring that they be permitted by the city and that they operate at particular distances from schools, parks and each other. After more than two months of silence, the council both conducted a closed session Tuesday about legal issues regarding cooperatives and attempted to clarify the definition of parks in relation to limitations on cooperative locations with an ordinance change.