Pubdate: Thu, 06 Sep 2012
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Erica E. Philips

L.A. POT BAN BLOCKED FOR NOW

LOS ANGELES - A ban on storefront pot dispensaries here won't go into 
effect Thursday after advocates for medical marijuana successfully 
petitioned to block it, the latest skirmish in the battle over how 
local governments around the nation should regulate pot businesses.

After years of failed attempts to control the number of pot shops and 
their operations here, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously 
passed an ordinance in late July that made storefront dispensaries 
illegal by modifying language in the city's municipal code.

Last week, medical-marijuana advocates submitted about 50,000 
signatures to overturn the ban, nearly twice the number needed, 
according to the Los Angeles City Clerk's office. Once the city clerk 
verifies the signatures, the council will have to decide whether to 
repeal the ordinance or place the issue on the ballot next year.

This city's unsuccessful efforts to regulate marijuana businesses 
have taken center stage in a statewide and national debate. Even as 
the federal government steps up efforts to crack down on dispensary 
sales of the drug, illegal under U.S. law, 17 states and the District 
of Columbia now allow marijuana use for medicinal purposes, according 
to Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group.

An ASA spokesman said California was the first state to popularize 
brick-and-mortar pot shops, typically denoted with a leaf or cross 
symbol, and the nation's largest state still counts the most pot shops.

A 1996 voter-approved initiative allows people with a doctor's 
recommendation to grow and use marijuana for medical reasons in 
California. According to an attorney for the city of Los Angeles, 
there is no mention of dispensaries in that law.

"The state voter initiative envisioned a kibbutz model," said Deputy 
City Attorney Bill Carter. "It's morphed into a Starbucks model."

Complicating the issue for California cities is a tangle of competing 
lawsuits. Last year, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the 
city of Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles, couldn't use a lottery 
system to limit the number of pot shops, because controlling the 
distribution of medical marijuana violates federal law. The state 
Supreme Court recently dismissed the case.

The state Supreme Court is expected to take up other cases addressing 
the issue of whether municipalities can ban pot shops, but not for 
several months.

Although many California municipalities ban pot sales, about 50 
jurisdictions allow sales, while regulating things like the number of 
dispensaries, their locations and hours of operation, according to 
Don Duncan, California director of ASA.

In 2007, when fewer than 200 dispensaries were operating in Los 
Angeles, city officials passed a moratorium to block new ones from 
opening. But hundreds more opened anyway, exploiting an exemption for 
dispensaries that could show they faced "hardship."

There are currently about 1,000 dispensaries in the city, according 
to Councilman Paul Koretz, who represents parts of the city's west side.

On the same day the City Council passed the ban, Mr. Koretz proposed 
that city attorneys prepare a separate ordinance allowing 
dispensaries that were open before 2008 to remain in business. Mr. 
Koretz said he hoped the new ordinance, once it proceeds through a 
clearance process, would be approved by the City Council before the 
ban comes up for a citywide vote.

For now, the proliferation continues. In the east side neighborhood 
of Eagle Rock, about 15 dispensaries have sprouted up recently, 
attracting customers from the nearby communities of Pasadena and 
Glendale, where dispensaries are banned.

Michael Larsen, president of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, 
said he isn't opposed to medicinal marijuana but said the shops are a 
"nuisance" in the community. Loitering, littering and reselling are 
serious problems around the dispensaries, Mr. Larsen said.

"It's easier to open a pot shop than a yogurt shop in Eagle Rock," 
Mr. Larsen said. "They just do it and start raking in the cash."

Annie Lam, a manager at Hyperion Healing in the nearby neighborhood 
of Silver Lake, said a citywide ban would be "harsh" for many of her 
shop's clients who use marijuana to curtail side effects from AIDS, 
cancer drugs and other conditions. State law allows people with a 
prescription to grow their own cannabis, she said, but for many that 
isn't a viable option.

"They're frustrated," she said. "Everyone still needs their medication."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom