Pubdate: Wed, 03 Oct 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 Phillips

LOS ANGELES REVERSES POT-SHOP BAN

LOS ANGELES-The City Council voted to repeal its own recent ban on 
storefront medical-marijuana dispensaries, an about-face that left as 
many as 1,000 pot shops all but unregulated as officials try to get a 
handle on a massive legal gray area.

Faced with a rapidly growing number of storefront "collectives" 
distributing the drug for ostensibly medicinal uses-and ensuing 
complaints from neighbors-the council this past July unanimously 
modified the municipal code to effectively outlaw such dispensaries. 
But medical-marijuana activists quickly forced a referendum seeking 
to overturn the ordinance by collecting signatures from 50,000 
residents opposed to the ban.

It was up to the council Tuesday to decide whether to allow the issue 
on a citywide ballot early next year or to repeal it and start over. 
By an 11-2 vote, the council rescinded the ban, keeping it off the ballot.

It isn't the first time the city's attempts to regulate the 
storefront shops have fallen apart.

Stephen Downing, a retired Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief 
and current board member of pro-legalization group Law Enforcement 
Against Prohibition, said the City Council "created a legislative 
mess" and should look to other cities that have successfully 
implemented regulations.

"They dilly-dallied for years and years," Mr. Downing said. "Then 
when they're suddenly faced with a proliferation of shops, they 
overreacted and tried to throw them all out."

Reached for comment, Councilman Tom LaBonge broke into the opening 
lines of a 1969 hit song by Merle Haggard. "We don't smoke marijuana 
in Muskogee...," sang Mr. LaBonge, who voted to repeal. "We have to 
strengthen our guidelines," he added. "We're not Muskogee."

A 1996 voter-backed initiative allows people with a doctor's 
recommendation to grow and use marijuana for medical reasons in 
California, but the law doesn't mention dispensaries. In 2007, when 
fewer than 200 dispensaries were operating in Los Angeles, city 
officials passed a moratorium to block shops from opening. But 
hundreds were able to exploit an exemption for dispensaries that 
could show they faced "hardship," and the stores have proliferated in 
the years since.

In recent weeks, federal prosecutors have stepped up efforts to crack 
down on dispensary sales of marijuana, which remains illegal under U.S. law.

Last week, federal authorities in Los Angeles said they had taken 
action against 71 shops in the city.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom