LA City Council rushing new ordinance that could wipe out dispensaries

(Los Angeles Times) With its moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries declared unlawful, the Los Angeles City Council is now poised to act quickly on a strict ordinance that it has struggled with fitfully for more than two years.

On Tuesday, the city attorney’s office delivered a draft that some members want the council to take up within a week. The sudden acceleration stems from a Superior Court ruling Monday that left the city unable to enforce its ban and derailed its four-month-old drive to shut down new dispensaries.

Under the latest proposal, most dispensaries would be required to close immediately and could not apply to reopen for six months. The 186 dispensaries that registered with the city when it passed its moratorium in 2007 would be allowed to remain open for six months, but then would have to meet the ordinance’s requirements.

You’re going to immediately shutter some 600+ medical marijuana storefronts?  The illegal marijuana dealers of the Los Angeles Basin couldn’t have asked for a better windfall.  The Mexican drug gangs sure have to like this change of events.  What, you didn’t think the Los Angelenos who have been keeping those storefronts in business were just going to stop smoking pot, did you?

The ordinance could effectively outlaw most dispensaries in the city by prohibiting sales of medical marijuana. Both City Atty. Carmen Trutanich and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley maintain that state law does not allow over-the-counter sales, though they say collectives owned by the members are allowed to recoup their expenses. Dispensary operators say the sales, usually in 1/8 -ounce increments, are meant to cover their operating costs.

The ordinance requires collectives to keep records on members and suppliers and to make them available to police, which operators fear could leave them vulnerable to federal prosecution even though the Justice Department on Monday formally told its prosecutors not to pursue medical marijuana users and dispensaries that follow state law.

The draft ordinance also adds a provision that requires collectives to notify council members and neighborhood councils of their plans to open, and another that bars anyone who was convicted of a felony within the previous 10 years or who is on parole or probation from managing a collective.

So, like, if you were growing medical marijuana for patients and providing it to them in a collective way, like, say, Eddy Lepp, and the feds prosecute you and make you a felon, then you, one of the most experienced people for the job, are not eligible.

In addition, the ordinance would limit the number of dispensaries by requiring them to be at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks, libraries, religious institutions, child care facilities, youth centers, hospitals, medical facilities, substance abuse rehabilitation centers and other collectives.

In a dense urban environment like Los Angeles, I doubt there are very many properties that aren’t within 1,000 feet from one of those institutions.  Can we at least open dispensaries next to liquor stores; I always seem to see them within 1,000 feet of those institutions.

The ordinance also would restrict the dispensaries’ operations. They could be open only between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. They could have no more than 5 pounds of marijuana or 100 plants on hand, and marijuana could not be consumed on site. They also would not be allowed to sell or manufacture edible marijuana products.

I don’t think Carmen Trutanich and Steve Cooley have ever seen Star Wars: A New Hope. Like Darth Vader battling Obi-Wan Kenobi in a lightsaber duel, they don’t realize that killing the Jedi master only makes him a stronger agent of The Force.  For over a decade now, people in Los Angeles have grown accustomed to buying quality marijuana in many varieties and forms from business establishments.  They have seen a hint on the promised land and will not appreciate returning to the “call my guy and wait and hope and take whatever weed I can get” world.

This action by the LA City Council will backfire in the worst way possible in their eyes: it will galvanize the majority that already believes marijuana should be legal for all and taxed with distribution through regulated business outlets.  There is no putting this genie back in the bottle.  Californians have seen semi-legalized marijuana and they like it.