Some L.A. Pot Shops Shut Down While Others Look to New Mayor for Relief

Los Angeles voters, however, approved D — which limits the city's dispensaries to the 135 or so that were in business when the council began trying to regulate them in 2007.

The key word is trying. And failing, mostly.

That's why Los Angeles seems to have a giant green cross on every block.

And why, 17 years after Californians made marijuana legal for medical use — the city still is dealing with fly-by-night dispensaries, wishy-washy politicians and feuding law enforcement officials who don't agree on what the law is, much less how to enforce it.

And why it's hard to know whether this latest crackdown will launch another battle in a war of wills, or usher in an era of peace that benefits patients and collectives.