Pubdate: Wed, 30 May 2012
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Kate Linthicum

POT SHOP BAN MOVES AHEAD

L.A. Council Panel Also Advances a Counterproposal That Would Spare 
About 100 Dispensaries.

A city Council committee moved forward with a ban on medical 
marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, approving a recommendation to outlaw 
storefront pot shops in Los Angeles while allowing small groups of 
patients and their primary caregivers to grow the drug on their own.

The proposed ban comes after years of legal wrangling over how the 
city should regulate distribution of the drug.

In 2007, the city imposed a moratorium on dispensaries, but a 
loophole allowed hundreds of new pot shops to proliferate. In 
reaction, lawmakers approved an ordinance two years ago that called 
for a lottery to limit which dispensaries should be allowed to operate.

But City Atty. Carmen Trutanich now says that ordinance should be 
revoked because it may violate federal law. The turning point was an 
appellate court ruling last year that Long Beach, which also imposed 
a lottery, was violating federal law by in effect sanctioning the 
distribution of drugs.

The proposed ban in L.A. would last at least until the California 
Supreme Court reviews the Long Beach case.

The ban has the strong backing of Councilman Jose Huizar, who 
represents the Eagle Rock neighborhood where a heavy concentration of 
dispensaries has long riled residents. Huizar says revoking the 
current ordinance would limit the city's liability.

But medical marijuana advocates say the ban would unfairly limit 
access to the drug for patients who rely on it. They say the small 
collectives, which would be limited to three people, allowed under 
the proposed ban would be hard on those who do not have the time or 
expertise to cultivate the drug.

The advocates support a counterproposal in which the city would ban 
most dispensaries but refrain from taking action against about 100 
that opened before the 2007 moratorium and can meet a set of other 
regulations that would limit where they could locate and their hours 
of operation.

The counterproposal has the backing of Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who 
spoke in favor of it at the Planning and Land Use Management 
Committee. Rosendahl's Westside district includes Venice, where there 
are nearly as many dispensaries as hot dog shacks.

He said the number of pot shops in L.A. "is out of control," but he 
said outlawing them outright would create more problems than it would 
solve because it would force the medical marijuana industry underground.

The committee, which includes Huizar, voted to move forward both the 
ban and the counterproposal, although all three of its members said 
they favor a ban. One of them, Councilman Mitchell Englander, told 
medical marijuana advocates in the crowd that bad operators at some 
dispensaries have brought crime and have given the whole industry a bad name.

Englander's Public Safety Committee will consider the issue as soon 
as next week, after which it will be taken up by the full council.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom