Get tough: Pot industry wants LA crackdown on rogue shops

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The legal marijuana industry is urging Los Angeles City Hall to get tougher with illegal shops that are gouging into their business.

Illegal pot shops are widespread throughout Los Angeles, selling cheaper products than their legal rivals because they don’t pay taxes.

In a letter Monday, the industry group Southern California Coalition recommended the city consider seizing cannabis inventory and cash from illegal shops that are found to be selling tainted products.

In the legal market, marijuana products must be tested for consumer safety — a requirement that illegal shops can ignore.

The letter says many legal shops are being driven toward bankruptcy because they are surrounded by rogue shops undercutting them.

Broad legal pot sales started in California in January 2018.