Fewer Than Half Of L.A. County’s 1,481 Cannabis Shops Are Legal, Illicit Operators Reopen Within Weeks Of Being Closed Down
California has been dealing with illegal cannabis operators for decades. In just three months, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) seized more than $53.62 million in illegal marijuana.
A recent report revealed that illegal growers are booming, destroying the environment. All this has put the legal California cannabis market ‘on the verge of collapse.‘ The State Department of Tax and Fee Administration just posted first-quarter sales and tax figures revealing the lowest quarter for marijuana sales since the second quarter of 2020.
One county seems to have the most difficulties in dealing with the illicit cannabis market. A recent Pew Research Center study notes that L.A. County accounts for a tenth of all operating dispensaries in the Golden State, with 1,481 dispensaries. According to the data from the California State Department of Cannabis Control for the year ending 2022, there were only 384 dispensaries with the license, writes the Los Angeles …