Attorneys for the city of Los Angeles will go to court today in hopes of obtaining an injunction shutting down a smartphone-based service that arranges deliveries of medical marijuana.
The City Attorney’s Office filed papers earlier this month asking a judge to issue a cease-and-desist order to Nestdrop LLC.
The service, which also sets up deliveries of alcohol, is doing business unlawfully and circumventing Proposition D, which limited the number of medical pot dispensaries in the city and regulates their operation, City Attorney Mike Feuer contends.
He said the voter-approved Proposition D “is very clear” on the issue of medical marijuana delivery, and says that only a patient or a caregiver is allowed to deliver medical marijuana.
“There is no lawful delivery service under Prop D,” Feuer said at a news conference earlier this month.
He also said “the combination of cash and a controlled substance at a given site is a potentially volatile combination.”
Nestdrop co-founder Michael Pycher contends his service does operate legally and has said he plans to fight the city’s action. The company’s legal team is expected to appear at the hearing.
The company also released a YouTube video on Friday asking supporters of the service to share their stories about how medical marijuana delivery has helped them.
Pycher said “the patients who need medical cannabis the most are the ones who might not be able to drive and therefore need it brought to them, and we can help them with that.”
“It’s time to share these stories, or the lack of understanding will continue,” he said.
Also on the video is DeWalt Mix, an amputee who said he had been taking multiple types of medications — such as Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Fentanyl and others — to relieve phantom pains in the area where his left-leg once was, but he later switched to medical marijuana edibles, which he said did a better job of relieving pain while also being “organic.”
Nestdrop began delivering medical marijuana in the area in mid-November.
Representatives of the company have said they chose to specialize in delivering alcohol because it is a highly regulated product with requirements that cannot be as easily fulfilled by general-purpose delivery services.
