Weed is legal in California, but that doesn’t mean that you can buy your bud anywhere. Under state law, local municipalities have the authority to control the cannabis trade in their town or city. And yet still, just because a city bans dispensaries or grow-ops, doesn’t mean that people will actually listen. In Los Angeles County, dispensaries have been banned since 2011, but dozens of unlicensed medical pot shops are still operating, even without local sanctions.
Sherriffs in L.A. County have tried to get rid of the unregulated dispensaries, but after one closes, more seem to pop up at the drop of a hat.
In nearby Riverside, California though, a 2007 pot shop moratorium has been thoroughly enforced, and according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, law enforcement officers in the Inland Empire town have shut down 118 pot shops in the past decade. Now, as medical regulations are set to shift and recreational legalization ready to take hold, Riverside is home to zero dispensaries.
But if L.A. County has had such difficulty getting rid of their pot shops, how has Riverside been so successful? For one, Riverside city officials are big fans of WeedMaps.com, and use…