Marijuana Clinic Coming to 6th and Spring?

Yeah, the first thing I thought was "Haven't we been here before?"

Does Barry Shy not ask what his tenants are selling? I don't get it.

Did the Robin Group handle the leasing on this space?

Somewhere along the line someone dropped the ball. Pot clinic or not, building owners need to be aware of what their tenants are selling.

The Historic Core already has a fully-functioning marijuana dispensary on 3rd St., midway between Main and Los Angeles. It is close to the little snack bar on the north side of the street. It's been there for about a year and a half.

Although we at Gay Downtown support medical marijuana dispensaries for HIV/AIDS patients, it is our considered opinion that the city should be careful and move slowly on the opening of new dispensaries. There are "out of town" interests moving in on this as a regular business. Does Downtown really need a lot of thise operations?

I actually sat down and talked to SB Management about this entire situation. First of all, they had absolutely no knowledge that this place was to be a medical marijuana dispensary. If they had known from the beginning, they would have never even let this get as far as it has. They completely agreed with me and are aware that an establishment such as this would only hinder everything that we have been trying to do. I was assured that in light of this, the proceedings will be completely terminated and a place such as this will definately not open in any of their buildings.

Barry has made a complete turn around in his attitude towards the community. He's been waiting for the right retail stores to come into his building and refusing to lease his retail spaces out to swap-meet style stores. He really cares about our neighborhood, and instead of always badmouthing him, we should give him some credit for all that he's done in downtown because I don't know one developer that has done as much as he has.

"They completely agreed with me and are aware that an establishment such as this would only hinder everything that we have been trying to do. I was assured that in light of this, the proceedings will be completely terminated and a place such as this will definately not open in any of their buildings."

You do not even realize what you are saying with such words. How do you know that this business would be notorious for downtown? Perhaps it will bring in more business? I say find out more information prior to passing judgement.

Although I am not a Marijuana user, I understand their rights and how it is positively affecting us right now economically and how this can save california and ailing cities such as Oakland.

Eric S.,

Thank you for looking into this and posting the outcome of those efforts.

When are we going to stop saying that marijuana is bad? This war on drugs creates street drug traffickers that pay no taxes. And I certainly hate walking down the street and people ask me if I want to buy drugs.

People are being killed and tortured because of this war on drugs. And the drugs keep on coming. Saying that marijuana is a crime or should be banned is not the answer. The clinics make a good outlet for those that truly need this medicinal relief.

Leave them alone please.

I must say it's nice to see Barry Shy avoiding controversy these days.

@Eric, I don't know if Barry knows much about economics but flooding the market with retail space and refusing to rent them to "swap meet shops" are contradictory strategies. Both of which are bad for downtown.

A city needs vibrance and activity to become safe and attractive. I'm not saying a pot shop would be good for anyone, but a bodega would be. Even a laundromat would be. The fact that he has three dead corners of a single intersection is the reason its sketchy to go outside and night and why every building has to have a security guard.

Great to know that we'll be facilitating more zombies on the streets of downtown with another pot clinic.

Why not?

I took a peak through the construction paper and it looks well furnished with finished decor. If they operate as well as the place looks I don't think they are there to cause drama but we will have to wait and see. I hope they control the people that go in there. But then again you walk around downtown, there are crazy people everywhere already!

I completely believe that people who need marijuana for medical purposes should have the right to use facilities like this. However, these places do not get the bulk of their customers from people like this. Instead, these facilities attract many young people(18-25) who wait around and loiter in front of the dispensary. If you go to other dispensaries you will see that the majority of them are run in this manner. I just don't think that this will be a great addition to the neigborhood.

We can all agree that downtown Los Angeles has gone through some dramatic changes within the last three to four years. I have worked in the Jewelry district for over three decades, since 1980's, and recently returned from a one year mission trip abroad in Europe and let me tell you: The change is noticeable! Young, eager and modern are just some of the adjectives that come to mind when describing the new populus on downtown LA streets. New restaurants, markets and retail store fronts compliment the converted lofts and apartments. Regardless of the economic distress, remodeling and all the congestion that goes along with the construction we've had to deal over the last few years downtown is making a change for what appears to be the better. Medicinal marijuana is one of those changes. Its nothing new, the United States has had to deal with changing times and trends as we did with alcohol and prohabition in the 1920's. Alcohol was "Bad" and deemed an "inhibition intoxicant" but we realized that it was all the responsibility of the user. In the big picture alcohol and tobaco taxes helped the US get out of the great depression. As we tax marijuana users and businesses our state deficit will shrink and we can rid our neighborhoods of street dealers.

did anyone see the article of Barry Shy in Downtown News? I know this is a bit off subject, but Im concerned about the actual safety in his buildings. everyone talks about how shoddy its all put together, is there a chance they were not retro-fitted or poorly done? how could one find out about stuff like that? regarding this topic...im a bit sketchy only because of all those robberies occuring at such places around LA...wouldnt like to see anyone in downtown get hurt....

As long as they have security, I don't understand what the big deal is, and I live in the SB Manhattan. And Eric Shomoff, really? Kids loitering around? Show me one dispensary with that problem and/or tell me how hiring a security guard won't solve that issue.

I think it hilarious that some of the biggest potheads downtown are getting their panties in a bunch about a marijuana dispensary opening a block away from where they live. Hypocritical much?

I don't know what the big deal is. Downtown is full of bars selling alcohol. Alcohol in my opinion is more harmful than marijuana.

People that are stoned are much more pleasant than drunk people... and they will help snack shops and restaurants to stay in business :)

I support legalization of marijuana. I say regulate it and tax it. The prohibitive policy is not the way to go.

I made a quick check with friends who live in West Hollywood, Studio City and Sherman Oaks and they reported no discernible decline in their standard of living despite the multitude of medical marijuana dispensaries that have operated for years in those communities. Those communities are the home to the Targets and Trader Joes for which so many downtown residents seem to clamor and these businesses peacefully coexist on the same streets as scores of cannabis clinics.

I realize that municipal government has the authority to regulate all nature of business in their community and politicians will listen to the voices of those who still see the use of marijuana with some special horror. However, in these days of government in perpetual budget crisis, cannabis clinics must be seen as potentially lucrative cash cows providing an ample revenue stream in the form of hefty licensing fees and sales taxes that cannot not be easily ignored. With a recent court decision going against more conservative counties like San Diego and Riverside that had tried to enact outright bans on the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, I think we will continue to see arguments over the regulatory guidelines for these businesses as they proliferate throughout the state.

All i can say is...wow. "18-25" yr olds loitering around these places? As woody said, id like to see ONE dispensary that has people hanging around outside. these clinics are very careful not to call attention to themselves.. break any rules, cause any drama, or create a shady atmosphere, they are getting themselves into trouble due to the shaky legal ground they stand on currently...so like any other legitamate business, they just dont let it happen.

u really shouldnt just make stuff up like that just to scare people into siding with your uninformed opinion.

the truth is, i would walk down an entire STREET of marijuana clinics at midnight, and still feel ten times safer than walking through Pershing park. The taxes from de-criminalization/legalization would help pay for public works, and completely rid public spaces of marijuana drug dealers.

Downtown would be a better place with marijuana, and the fact that these clinics are going to be denied a lease....in my humble opininon..thats discrimination.

I live across the street at the Bartlett and I certainly wouldn't have a problem with a marijuana clinic at SB Main. I don't understand why there would even be a debate about this.

Someone better do substantial screening to ensure this not a business backed by the Mexican mafia. I know there are many many businesses in Los Angeles county that appear on the up and up on the surface, but are dealing in organized crime. And they always do whatever it takes to make them appear to be harmless, legitimate businesses.

Mexican Mafia running the show down here? Give me a break... Why would they open up a business right in the middle of downtown out in the open if they were that. There is no logic in you're statement.

If anyone is worried, it would be the pot and coke dealers who work in the cafes and most bars in downtown. Talk about new competition.

107 much?

There are no pot or coke dealers working at 107. That is a completely false, defamatory statement...and "in the cafes and most bars in downtown?" Kate you are ignorant, where do you get this information unless you have purchased drugs at these places?

Not false nor defamatory, tl.

Don't kid yourself.

It appears I'm one of the few non-users living downtown. So I don't know what is legal and what isn't, but I will say this;

I'm a pedestrian and often pass by black men at 5th, 6th, and Main reeking of pot. (They also seem mostly drunk or strung out, but this discussion is about pot.) I know they are not the only ones using, but apparently they have no problem doing it out in the open. Is this behavior not prohibited by law? Or are there certain segments of this community who are allowed to use in public?

Also, as a pedestrian, I get offers to buy other drugs by this same group of black men. I know this is conveyed in code, by tapping a finger against the side of your nose. I always tell them to fuck off. I have a suspicion that these same men using and selling out in the open are collecting public assistance and housing subsidies. There ought to be thorough and random drug screening in order to qualify for any benefits, and cancellation of those benefits upon failing the tests.

Anyway, adding another pot shop in this "neighborhood" will only serve to make the loitering-while-high problems worse around here, if you don't at the same time lay down some enforceable and highly monitored restrictions about when/where/who can use this FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES only.

^

I'm not a stupid pothead either, but are you serious??

You think those nose-tapping black men are trying to sell you weed? (Yeah, they all look alike, according to you....have you seen our mixed-race President on 5th street? Oh yeah, Obama's there too at 6th and Main, tapping his nose in his Nike track suit. Go and say Hi!)

If you snorted pot leaves, you'd probably choke to death by the leaves cutting off your air passages. So, let's see... what drugs go up the nose?

Cocaine? Crystal meth? Crack?

The internet is supposed to make you smarter.

Pot clinics don't increase "loitering" -- do some fieldwork. They're all over the city including posh West Hollywood.

Adding a pot clinic downtown will only serve to increase some much needed traffic to our financially failing streets.

"Also, as a pedestrian, I get offers to buy other drugs by this same group of black men. I know this is conveyed in code, by tapping a finger against the side of your nose. I always tell them to fuck off."

And yes; they are black, and yes; they are the same ones who loiter 5th and Main every single day. Go see for yourself.

And once Common Ground gets hold of the Rosslyn, it will increase tenfold.

"And once Common Ground gets hold of the Rosslyn, it will increase tenfold."

What will increase?

The blackness?

The nose tapping?

Your replaying of Melanie Griffith's role from The Bonfire of the Vanities when, at the ominous sight of two approaching black men in the Bronx, Griffith squeals:

"Oh my God, natives! .

"Oh my god...natives!"

It's clear that people like Mary and others haven't a clue what it's like to live around here, especially as a pedestrian.

Do you need to have someone hold your hand and walk you over to Main St. to see the daily public intoxication? The loitering? The drug dealing? The public urination? The inebriated who collapse on the street and cannot get up and all the usual emergency vehicles are summoned to hold up traffic for one of these guys at the rate of at least once a month?

These are the kind of behaviors you support?

Stunning.

Where does the sense that drug trafficking will increase as well as peddlers on the street due to a clinic in downtown? There is a methadone clinic for rehabilitation on spring and nobody cares about them.

In all honesty, if you think about it the dealings on the street would minimize as people would rather get their medication from a properly regulated business that is one of the main industries that pays so much in taxes at the moment.

Think about it, business will just suffer for these dealers and purchasing from the clinic will not allow them to sell on the streets for a profit. They cannot undermine the costs of the clinic as their supply probably in inferior and the offer of security, legality as well as comfort for the patient would be a lot to offer than some strung out sidewalk pissing crack dealing pusher.

There are much more credible arguments for and against these clinics but some of these concerns noted above definitely spring from some close minded people who clearly do not know what they are talking about.

Prior to typing away at you're first gut instinct, think about the ramifications of what you say as well as use some sound RATIONAL judgement.

I am still trying to understand the argument which suggests that people getting medical marijuana and street dealers have anything to do with each other.

A similar argument would imply that people picking up some script for vicodin at Rite Aid are prime clients for street cocaine.

I passed by there last night headed home and saw their doors open. Seemed that they were still doing construction.

Asked them about the business and tried to find out more info and to my surprise, they were very welcoming and even let me look inside for a mini tour. Although there was no MJ inside, they said that they will be open on monday (tomorrow). I dont know how their gonna do it as there seems to be a lot of work left to do.

Anyway, I spoke with someone named Jeff and he said that they have thought heavily about what type of impact they would have in downtown. He claimed that they would have some sort of open book policy and that the operation is a non-profit which means all the money that is generated by the business will go to government departments as well as to the "beautification of downtown". Seemed like stand up guys and apparently changed my mind.

I am curious to see how their operation goes and mentioned to them about this page. Apparently, they are locals and claimed to be more activists.

Before passing judgement, I say check 'em out first and see how it goes.

Look, we all know that the majority of the people who "score 'scrips" are not sick, they are buying it purely for recreation. And the ones who sell it are not medical personnel, they are profiteers. So stop portraying it as some noble endeavor.

I know people who do this regularly, and it's a practice that blows the credibility of "medicinal marijuana" out of the water. I lived across the street from a weed shop on Melrose, and most of the people I saw entering that place were 20ish male BMW drivers in Melrose type duds, and male latinos in baggy shorts. All the customers were stylishly dressed, able-bodied, and driving late model cars. The place was shut down shortly after it was broken into and robbed.

Wow, imagine a weed store, getting robbed. Guess the lack of signage, the burly security guard, the blacked-out windows and the alarm system weren't enough to stop those smokers from getting their weed on!

Eric, isn't it about time you institute a registration system so you don't have one person posting really offensive racist stuff under multiple names to give the impression there are a lot of people who hold the same opinions of Latinos and blacks in the wrong neighborhood?

You scrawled: "Do you need to have someone hold your hand and walk you over to Main St. to see the daily public intoxication? The loitering? The drug dealing? The public urination? The inebriated who collapse on the street and cannot get up and all the usual emergency vehicles are summoned to hold up traffic for one of these guys at the rate of at least once a month?"

You've just described what downtown has already become every weekend. You missed the part about the girl barfing into a trashcan at 3 am while her boyfriend plays lame hip hop music under your window while screaming at her not to puke again on his gear shift."

All right, Kate. Perhaps it's time to put your money where your mouth is and supply these readers with some tangible information to support your ludicrous accusations.

I happen to frequent many downtown bars and cafes, at least 1 every day, and I have lots of friends that own, run and work in these establishments who are honest, hardworking, mostly downtown-living people. So to generalize that these people are drug dealers is insulting and a downright vilification of innocent people.

So you have either A) Purchased drugs yourself at these fine establishments and can verify your accusation by manning-up and admitting it; B) You yourself work at one of these bars or cafes and are selling drugs; or C) You have read on the internet or newspaper of a particular arrest in connection with or an investigation into the selling of drugs at these places.

So here I am calling you out - how do you know this information and how are you gonna back it up? And then afterwards, I dare you to identify yourself and show your face at any one of these local places.

I could, but won't, name all the white people, by example, growing and selling Illegal pot from their lofts..The police have already shut down two operations in lofts months ago. This is not about race. Nor is this about selling on the streets which is clearly illegal. This is about civic responsibility and what and whom should occupy commercial space in our neighborhoods.

Though I consider LEGAL MEDICAL marijuna as acceptable as defined by California law, I also think that there should be careful consideration as to who, where, and when a marijuana pharmacy should go in.

Before Gay Downtown endorsed medical marijuana we carefully monitored 8 operations in 6 different LA venues, Downtown, East LA, Atwater Village, West Hollywood, Venice and The Valley. These operation clearly and without a doubt do not allow people to loiter in front of their businesses. Nor do they allow the transfer of medicine to others waiting. Nor should it be allowed.

"Out of state interests" - I did not mean to imply the "Mexican Mafia" or M13 which runs its own operations from the Barrios. They want NOTHING to do with our neighborhood, it's not in their business plan. They want and need drugs to be illegal because therein lays the profit for them. Think: Al Capone, who went out of business when prohibition ended in 1931.

Additionally we do not feel out of state business interests should be allowed to run a marijuana pharmacy. (This is only our thought.) The medical efficacy has been proven to our standard of proof. But that is not the issue either, it's do you want this operation in your neighborhood? You have a right here and we at GayDowntown will respect our communities decision on this matter.

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,

Thomas Johnson Gay Downtown

<>

"Thomas Johnson" of Downtown L.A. Life is a pseudonym for the two guys who run the operation. He is not a real person, just someone else posting under this name. This outfit also recently had a fake food critic. They ran a stock photo and claimed it was him.

Sorry I have no idea who you are but you are totally incorrect. I am with Gay Downtown. You are clearly a coward. Gay Downtown is not Downtown LA Life Magazine and you know it.

Just Saying: Interesting that you hide your identity when you accuse others of doing the same. Heard it all before. This issue is the marijuana stores not personalites and bashing of Gay people and organizations. Sounds like the threats of J W to me. You know the gay-bashing wonder. But of course there re a few others. Can we keep this ON topic? or is it more important for people to mentally masturbate on here?

sad that this breaks down to attacking a poster who makes good and unemotional points and attacks no one. all us gay people know who the gay haters are in DT and know where their businesses are. from a gym to a art supply store...

hey eddie don't forget people closer to this blog...

tl:

You blow an awfully loud horn. Yes, I work at a bar downtown. Maybe you need some schooling, but isn't it obvious: if I name the bar, then it gets raided, possibly closed down, and I lose money. Maybe your mom pays your rent and you don't understand how this works. There's a lot of that downtown these days -- I know, I serve these "children" on a daily basis.

Guess you don't know who to ask, but if you frequent bars as much as you claim you do, then you just aint asking the right heads, cuz its everywhere, every night of the week.

And to TJ, you're right about the loft pot. My girlfriend lives in the bldg at 7th and Spring. Those halls stank of it.

I heard that there's actually a Chinese/White drug connection working out of a new store on Main St. Anyone have the "dope" on dat?