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Lancaster police detail multi‑agency sweep of smoke shops; commission already put moratorium on new stores
Summary
Lancaster Police said a recent multi‑agency operation inspected 30 smoke shops, found violations at every site and seized contraband; officials urged local ordinance changes to cover novel intoxicating hemp products, kratom and nitrous oxide and noted state agencies will levy package fines.
Lancaster police on Thursday described the results of a multi‑agency enforcement operation that inspected 30 smoke shops across Lancaster and found violations at every location, including illicit cannabis products packaged to appeal to children, counterfeit tobacco tax stamps, kratom, unlabeled mushroom products and nitrous oxide offered for sale.
"We hit 30 locations. We found violations at all locations," Mike Johnson of the Lancaster Police Department told the Lancaster Criminal Justice Commission. Johnson said the operation included partners from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the California Department of Cannabis Control, LA County Probation (with a cannabis‑trained canine), and LA County Public Health.
Johnson said many products discovered evade current local rules because the city's cannabis ordinance only…
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