Pubdate: Sat, 6 Jun 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: John Hoeffel
Cited: Los Angeles City Council 
http://www.lacity.org/lacity/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Los+Angeles+City
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

LOS ANGELES MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES COULD FACE CLOSURE

The City Council Plans to Start Reviewing Requests for Exemption From 
a Moratorium Enacted in 2007.

With hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles 
operating in violation of a moratorium, the City Council will start 
the process of shutting some down Tuesday by voting on exemption 
requests filed by 16 dispensaries.

Most, if not all, of the requests probably will be denied because the 
dispensaries did not register with the city by the moratorium's 
deadline in 2007. A denial would allow the city to take legal steps 
to force them to close.

The city allowed 186 dispensaries to stay open under the moratorium. 
But since then, 533 dispensaries have asked for exemptions after most 
opened without waiting for permission. That triggered concerns from 
neighborhood activists.

The first set of dispensaries targeted by the council were selected 
because council members believe they are "creating a negative impact 
on the community," Councilman Ed Reyes said.

Reyes, who heads the committee that oversees the moratorium, promised 
this week to start reviewing the exemption applications. The council 
has ruled on none, which has hampered enforcement. The city 
attorney's office says it would be hard to make a case that a 
dispensary should be shut down if it had an exemption request pending 
before the council.

"I'm pushing as hard as I can because I am really bothered that we 
are in this predicament," Reyes said.

Stewart Richlin, a lawyer who filed one of the exemption 
applications, said the dispensaries simply followed the advice of 
city officials who informed them that filing an application would 
allow them to remain open.

"The City Council dropped the ball," he said, noting that it still 
has not adopted a medical marijuana ordinance.

Since Tuesday, when Reyes announced that he would work through the 
applications, 25 more dispensaries have filed for exemptions. The 
council also will vote Tuesday on whether to stop allowing hardship exemptions.

The council will consider these dispensaries: Atwater Alternative 
Care Collective, LA Collective, Friendly Collective, Global Meds 
Collective and Accurate Services Medical Dispensary in Atwater 
Village; House of Kush, Hemp Factory V and American Eagle Collective 
in Eagle Rock; the Vapor Room in downtown L.A.; Green Leaf Collective 
in El Sereno; Bulldog Cafe Collective in Hollywood; New Age Wellness 
in Venice; Aloha Spirit Organic Consumables in Reseda; West Coast 
Holistic Institute in Canoga Park; The Grasshopper 215 in Woodland 
Hills; and Hope Collective in Winnetka. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake