The city of Los Angeles is seeking millions of dollars in civil penalties as it sues an unlicensed marijuana dispensary in South L.A. for selling marijuana that was contaminated with pesticides.
According to a lawsuit filed on Monday by the Los Angele city attorney’s office, Kush Club 20, was selling cannabis tainted with paclobutrazol.
Paclobutrazol is a fungicide frequently used to make golf turf more dense and verdant, which is classified as a Type II toxic chemical by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is not approved for use on cannabis in California said the lawsuit.
“Customers patronize illegal shops at their peril, and undermine businesses who play by the rules — and whose product is tested to protect buyers’ health,” commented City Atty. Mike Feuer.
“We apparently as a community care a lot about whether our romaine lettuce is contaminated, and we should. We care a lot about whether we can safely eat at Chipotle,” Feuer also said. “Marijuana buyers should at least exercise that same degree of caution.”
The lawsuit seeks a civil penalty of $20,000 for each day that illegal activity occurred at the property, which has been operating for almost a year.
Kush Club 20 is located at the 5500 block of Central Avenue in South L.A.
“We’ve alleged the brokers and the business operators and the property owners knowingly omitted the true use of the property from the lease,” Feuer said. “In this case, the lease says that the use is for a church.”
