Pubdate: Sat, 14 Nov 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: A12
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: John Hoeffel
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)

L.A. SUBMITS NEW DRAFT ORDINANCE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Los Angeles city attorney's office on Friday submitted a new 
draft medical marijuana ordinance that could resolve some contentious 
issues but adds new complications, such as raising the idea of 
capping the number of dispensaries by council district or community plan area.

The latest draft clarifies that edible marijuana products will be 
allowed. It also removes a provision that would have required 
collectives to provide lists of members, which dispensary operators 
had strenuously opposed, arguing it would violate federal privacy laws.

Two City Council committees plan to meet jointly Monday to complete 
the ordinance and the council is scheduled to take it up Wednesday, 
more than a year and half after the first draft ordinance was sent to 
the council.

David Berger, a special assistant to City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, 
said the latest version, the fifth, was intended to speed the process.

"We could continue to refine this ordinance ad infinitum. It's time 
to get this ordinance done," he said, noting that the city attorney's 
office cannot launch actions to close dispensaries until an ordinance 
is in place.

"The whole idea is to get some control over the in-your-face way that 
business has been conducted up until now."

The city has hundreds of dispensaries, but a judge ruled last month 
that the city's moratorium was illegally extended and barred 
enforcement against a dispensary that sued, effectively leaving Los 
Angeles with no regulations.

Michael Larsen, the public safety director for the Eagle Rock 
Neighborhood Council, urged the council to act quickly. "Our main 
objective is simply an ordinance," he said. "That's No. 1. That's the 
message we want to get out."

The proposal leaves in place a prohibition on the sale of marijuana, 
but it allows dispensaries to recover the "out-of-pocket costs of 
their collective cultivation."

Collective operators have repeatedly criticized the provision, saying 
it's unclear whether they would be able to continue to operate under 
that condition.

"It's still a square peg for a round hole," said Don Duncan, the 
California director for Americans for Safe Access. Duncan, who lives 
in Los Angeles, said it's based on the erroneous notion that 
collectives are like community gardens.

The proposed ordinance also keeps a requirement that dispensaries be 
located 1,000 feet from schools, parks, libraries and other so-called 
sensitive uses. City planners recently found that less than a quarter 
of the 186 dispensaries the city has allowed to operate under its ban 
would comply.

Duncan called the rule "unworkable," but Larsen said he believes it 
is "a very liberal allowance" compared with the caps other cities 
have placed on the number of dispensaries. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake