When Michael Kwon opened a new Westwood BBQ Chicken franchise on Le Conte Avenue in June 2009, he was dismayed to find his business promptly flanked by a marijuana dispensary on the left and a new medical cannabis doctor’s office on the right.
Both neighboring storefronts sport large marijuana leaves, one of which glows into the late hours of the night.
“I come from a normal background, so I consider marijuana to be a pretty bad drug,” said Kwon, who fears that the volatility of the neighboring businesses could affect the sales and the reputation of his restaurant.
None of the newer dispensary owners would comment on record.
Westwood’s falling property values and plethora of empty storefronts have not gone unnoticed. Three new cannabis dispensaries have opened in the area over the past six months, operating under the auspices of a legal exception that allows dispensaries to open if they submit a three-page “˜hardship’ exemption form, which the Los Angeles City Council must review case by case ““ an impossible task given the number of requests.
In the meantime, 600 dispensaries have opened in Los Angeles as of June 2009 according to the Wall Street Journal. Luigi Corfee, Kwon’s neighbor and the operator of a chain of medical cannabis doctor’s offices, estimates that there are now over 800 dispensaries in Los Angeles County.
“Marijuana dispensaries are opening at a faster rate than Starbucks at the moment,” said Corfee, who plans to open a certification office every three months for the next few years.
Dr. Michael Morris, who refers patients for cannabis cards at Corfee’s nearby office, said the dispensaries simply exist to serve a high demand for medical marijuana, though he acknowledged that there may be too many dispensaries in Westwood.
“They’ll eventually thin out,” Morris said.
Hamid Entezari, the owner of Top Shoes and the neighbor of the newly opened Westwood Healing Co-op, said he finds it difficult to treat the dispensaries as a serious problem.
“At first the smell through the vents was bad,” Entezari said, laughing. “But they fixed that. For me, I don’t have a problem with it.”
However, a number of students and professors have expressed concerns over the profusion of the dispensaries in the community.
“(Cannabis is) not a necessity,” said Jason Muse, a third-year philosophy student. “And even if it is, the likelihood of it being abused by students far outweighs its benefit,”
Dr. Morris maintained that his clientele consists primarily of elderly and cancer patients but added that students have become a rapidly growing demographic since the beginning of term, comprising almost half of his business at the Westwood location.
The list of qualifying symptoms to obtain a cannabis card covers almost the entire storefront of Morris’ office and includes everything from stress to premenstrual syndrome. Michael A., a third-year environmental science student who sought the card to treat his ADD, was in and out with a card in under 10 minutes.
“It was pretty easy,” said Michael, who sought marijuana as a treatment only after prescription drugs failed. Michael said he did not want to give out his full name.
Dr. Morris said he approves the majority of his patients because of the wide variety of medical applications of cannabis, but Michael said he feels there should be some sort of objective standard.
“I have a lot of friends who got the card just for the weed,” Michael said.
Margaret Jacob, a UCLA history professor and a longtime resident of Westwood, feels that the issue is also that of community health.
“It’s conceivable that the clubs serve a legal, legitimate function, but do we want four of them so near the university?” Jacob asked.
Jacob said she believes the spread of the cannabis industry could be a sign of general decay in the commercial sector of Westwood, as shops disappear monthly and new businesses enter at an ever declining rate.
“When you drive down Westwood Boulevard, it looks pretty grim,” Jacob said.
Westwood currently lacks a unified business organization such as a chamber of commerce, and Jacob said the community is suffering economically as a result.
However, Corfee feels that the community may be overestimating the economic impact of the presence of the cannabis industry.
“All of these places were vacant anyway, and we bring a lot of foot traffic to the area,” Corfee said.
Corfee also stressed that his offices see cancer patients for free, and he said he wants to support local businesses.
“We try to be good neighbors,” he said.
Susan Leahy, the manager of The Farmacy, said that professionalism and openness is especially important in the business of cannabis. While the newer dispensaries close their products behind a double layer of locked doors and tinted windows, Leahy said she takes pride in throwing the doors of the alternative pharmacy wide open.
“We try to be upstanding and knowledgeable,” Leahy said. “We haven’t had any problems or complaints.”
The Farmacy has operated as an alternative pharmacy in Westwood for two and a half years without a single incident. The store, which employs full-time pharmacists, nutritionists and biochemists, offers marijuana in various forms along with other alternative medicines.
“We’re not a pot shop,” Leahy said. “I invite our critics to come in and see what we’re about.”
But until official city ordinances are proposed and the ambivalent legality of the new dispensaries is clarified, the business of cannabis will always be a dubious proposition.
In Dr. Morris’ Westwood Boulevard office, “High Times” shares space with Vogue and Oprah magazine on a coffee table.
“I respect their opinions,” Morris said of his critics. “But I’m not willing to shut down my business.”