Killings, robberies, extortion. California can’t stop its booming illegal cannabis stores
When the cannabis dispensary Hierba opened on Cesar Chavez Avenue in October, customers had “sticker shock,” Guillermo Menjivar, the general manager, recalled. Even with a 30% opening week discount, shoppers still couldn’t understand why, for instance, a gram of First Class Funk cost $15. They could be forgiven: Until Hierba — the first legal dispensary