Authorities are cracking down on illegal marijuana dispensaries in San Diego, shutting down one of them in the Barrio Logan neighborhood on Wednesday morning.
The business, located on the 1900 block of Una Street, is the fifteenth shop to get shut down in the last six months.
The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Narcotics Unit seized approximately three pounds of marijuana, edibles, and an undisclosed amount of concentrated cannabis during a search warrant. Authorities also confiscated $25,000 in cash and business records.
According to SDPD, the crackdown has nothing to do with Prop. 64, which legalized recreational marijuana in California. But the push to shut down illegal dispensaries is because businesses are not paying taxes or filling out the proper paperwork for permits, and are disrupting neighbors.
"We've been here for 47 years and we've owned the business 3 years. And we've seen a lot more activity--broken windows in cars, we've seen more of the prostitutes coming around here, the drug people, we've even seen people coming through here with cars parked in the driveway there and they would be handing out marijuana through the fences," said Michael Huelsbeck, a local business owner in that area.
Huelsbeck told NBC 7 he believes petty crime increased after the illegal dispensary opened about a year ago.
Two employees were also issued citations and could face heavy fines.
