Cannabis city: medical marijuana landscapes in Los Angeles

In 2004, nearly ten years after California voters approved Proposition 215 legalizing medical marijuana, local statutory environment relaxed to a point that triggered an explosion of medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs) in several California cities. The staggering growth of the industry—despite continuing reservations of the medical community, an ongoing ban by the federal government, and legal restrictions on profit-taking by MMDs—called into question the medical credentials of this industry. This study investigates the MMD industry using both classic landscape and computer-intensive content analyses of the built environment of MMDs. A typology of MMDs is constructed that, upon inspection, suggest that though many MMDs appear to function as vendors of natural, therapeutic remedies, a significant minority of MMDs market marijuana primarily as a recreational, hallucinogenic drug. The landscapes built by this minority threaten to undermine the position of medical marijuana proponents.