GIGA GRANADA HILLS

Fire crews uncovered chronic on Doric in a Granada Hills garage ganja garden. No one was harmed in the blaze at the farm, but the weed was seized after smoldering smoke got the neighbors on the phone to the fire station to report the Mary Jane conflagration. A spliced wire sparked the fire. Neighbors were surprised when the two young guys who lived in the house were caught growing pot. The mini-ranch of cannabis plants was in the neighborhood of Knollwood, where crime rates are typically good. But as this story shows, bud freely grows around every corner of town. Fire report yields garage pot farm in Granada Hills, LATimes.com

From my buddy Brian Doherty at Reason Magazine: Los Angeles Destroys Functioning Businesses in a Recession Brian Doherty | May 6, 2010 Los Angeles has lost over 150,000 jobs in the past year, is on the brink of bankruptcy , and experienced an unexpected 16 percent decline in sales tax revenue last year. And it’s located in a state with its own dire fiscal situation that is also facing unexpected gaps in tax revenue . Yet this week the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office made a move that's certain to make things worse for its citizens: forcing over 400 functioning businesses to close shop, under threat of jail time. Don’t worry, though. It’s no big deal. Those businesses are only selling medicine. Medical marijuana, that is. As detailed in my May Reason magazine cover story , Los Angeles struggled for years with regulating medical marijuana storefronts—which thrived in L.A. as in no other city. In January the city finally came down with an ordinance imposing a variety ...

Junior Martinez The medical marijuana ordinance recently passed by the Los Angeles City Council that left many Los Angeles dispensary owners scrambling to relocate will not affect Granada Hills' sole dispensary. California Herbal Providers, located on Chatsworth Street near Encino Avenue, is already in compliance with the ordinance's land-use restrictions, which require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from other dispensaries, schools, parks and libraries, and not adjacent to or directly across a street or alley from residences. There is an alley adjacent to residences behind CHP's building, but there is a parking lot between CHP's building and the alley. "It's going to be a never-ending thing. Every day it's something new," says owner Junior Martinez of the recently passed ordinance. "But I'm okay at least for the next few weeks."

A few short months ago, I reported that Granada Hills had more medical marijuana dispensaries than it did Starbucks. That is true no longer. The landscape has quickly changed over the course of the past five months, and now there's only one place left in town to legally buy pot. One might think that any business owner would be pleased to have all of his competition eliminated. But Junior Martinez, the owner of California Herbal Providers, or CHP, located on Chatsworth near Encino Avenue, is actually feeling a lot of pressure, because he knows that as the last man standing, he's under intense scrutiny. "We're the only people they're watching -- and they're watching us like a hawk," he says. In the recent sweep that shut down every Granada Hills dispensary but one, how did CHP wind up as the sole survivor? "Because we play by the rules," Junior says plainly. "I'm not just some neighborhood drug dealer. We have all of our permits, we ...

According to a losangelescannabisclubs.com user review dated July 3, 2009, Golden State Collective was raided by police. "Unfortunately I am writing this review post-raid that took place earlier this evening. I would be asleep right about now but was not able to get the medicine needed for my insomnia. (The only thing that ever helped me fall asleep at a decent hour.) " Golden State Collective is the place that I bought marijuana-laced Rice Krispie treats for my stepfather, who had cancer of the liver. The treats were nicely packaged and labeled, which decreased his reluctance to give them a try. They gave him some periods of relief from the months and months of continuous nausea he suffered toward the end of his life, which happened just eight months ago. I have not been able to verify the rumors that GSC was raided; GSC's phone has a "mailbox is full" message, and LAPD has not yet responded to a request for information. A sign in the window says that the...