Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer filed court papers on Tuesday, seeking to close a medical marijuana delivery service aided by a smartphone app.
Feuer wants a Superior Court judge to issue a cease-and-desist order that would stop Nestdrop LLC from delivering pot, contending that it is doing business unlawfully and circumventing Proposition D, which limited the number of medical pot dispensaries in the city.
Nestdrop co-founder Michael Pycher said the company is “saddened by the city attorney’s recent attempt to restrict patient’s access to their legal medicine” and plans to fight the legal action.
Nestdrop is not acting as a “dispensary, collective, grower or even a delivery service,” but is the “technology platform that connects law-abiding medical marijuana patients with local dispensaries to receive the medication that they need in a safe and secure manner,” Pycher said.
“Our goal is make access to this legal medicine convenient for patients who truly need it — especially as many of these suffering patients may have limited mobility and may be unable to visit a dispensary unassisted,” and he said he does not “understand why the city is trying to restrict their access to the important medicine.”
Feuer said the voter-approved Proposition D “is very clear” on the issue of medical marijuana delivery.
Only a patient or a caregiver is allowed to delivery medical marijuana under Proposition D, Feuer said.
“There is no lawful delivery service under Prop D,” he said. “It is not a permitted way for doing business,” he said, adding that “the combination of cash and a controlled substance at a given site is a potentially volatile combination.”
Nestdrop, also used for alcohol deliveries, announced in October that it planned to expand into medical marijuana delivery. That started in mid- November, Feuer said.
The City Attorney’s Office is responsible for enforcing Proposition D, which Feuer said “strikes a balance” between restricting the operation of marijuana shops. About 100 dispensaries that registered with city officials are exempted so that city law conforms to state law.
Since Proposition D took effect 17 months ago, attorneys for the city have closed 402 unlawful medical marijuana dispensaries, which amounts to about half of known illegal dispensaries citywide, Feuer said.
