City moves against pot dispensaries, prompting anger

Sending a clear signal that it wanted to close hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries, a City Council committee Monday recommended denying requests from 28 dispensaries for exemptions from a moratorium. 

The hearing left dispensary owners and their lawyers furious. They complained that notices arrived over the weekend or not at all, speakers had just minutes to make their case, and council members spent no time weighing the testimony. 

"I thought the hearings were a farce and a sham," said Graham Berry, an attorney who spoke for 10 dispensaries. 

Councilmen Ed Reyes, the chairman of the Planning Committee, and Jose Huizar sought to defuse several tense moments by explaining the process. They pointed out it was a hearing, not a debate, noted that state law requires only 72 hours' notice to put items on an agenda and said they had carefully reviewed the hardship exemption applications. 

"What you see here today is the conclusion of a long process," said Reyes, who had to repeatedly ask speakers to stay within their allotted time. "The assertion that this is a sham is false." 

-- John Hoeffel

Comments

[Scott]

Great. The city is covered in graffiti, our freeways grind to a halt daily, and the budget crisis has stretched our resources to the limit. Seems launching an assault on people getting medicine is the right move.

[Samson]

These jokers don't have anything better to do with city time and money? And they wonder why the State of California is bankrupt!

[jb]

Thanks LA Times. Without your stunning "expose" none of this would be happening. Party poopers! Squares! LAME!!!

[Steve]

Angry potheads! Is this another Judd Apatow movie?

[JJ Popowich]

Good news for all. This is a victory for law and for the Neighborhood Councils that fought these illegal businesses. The issue isn't whether this is medicine but one of law and appropriate locations. The one we requested to be shut down in Winnetka never filed for a permit until after they were cited by the City and were located within 1 block of a school. That's not an appropriate location. Not filing for a license is not an appropriate way to do business. They knew what they were doing. They simply thought they could break the law and get away with it. Guess what they didn't. JJ Popowich, President Winnetka Neighborhood Council

[calypso catteraugus]

we need to un-elect these clowns in charge of our city. how disgusting.

[Sal]

Closing the dispensaries, and blanketing the city with liquor stores and (often lewd) massive multistory and electronic billboards.

LA is all too often stabbed in the back by its own "leaders."

[aliinla]

Why are we fighting people being able to get medical marijuana when there are so many other things we should be advocating spending money on instead of fighting this.... like the HUGE backlog of untested rape kits in Los Angeles? Or our cutting city services? Or forcing city workers into a 3rd furlough day each month? Or our lack a good public transportation system? Or the cuts in personnel at most of the county and city-run cultural institutions? If we do not deal with the safety, traffic and transportation areas in Los Angeles in the next twenty years, we are going to be an even more unsafe, crowded and traffic-filled city. Hopefully we might begin to realize the value in legalizing marijuana and get over this puritanical view of it all. A native Los Angeleno, I grew up in the Windsor Square/Hancock Park neighborhood near the Freemont Library and the area of one of the dispensaries in question that the city council and surrounding neighbors want to shut down. Why can't parents in this neighborhood engage in meaningful dialog with their children regarding drugs - legal and illegal, perscription and medical uses and why there might be a need or a dispensary? And for the record, I am a person who absolutely hates "getting high" and have only tried smoking marijuana 5 times in my life. But you bet if I was sick, and marijuana was the best course of action for my illness, that I would go out and legally get some marijuana hopefully conveniently at a legal dispensary, although this might not be possible.

[Ed Lowder]

They should close they all down. Medical marijuana is a joke.

[Tim]

BAD MOVE. taking away medicine when healthcare is not available.

[Doug]

Los Angeles is in a massive budget crisis, yet they're spending time and resources shutting down operations that hurt NO ONE. Why isn't this energy being put into saving education jobs and improving safety?

[adam]

Vote them all out!
It will help the next elected officials work for us, not their own selected agenda.

[anon]

if you're upset about how they acted then vote them out. It's city council not the senate. Each vote goes a long way.

[JOE]

"Sending a clear signal that it wanted to close hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries".

Maybe we should send a clear signal by getting rid of these councilmen and city planners and getting people that are willing to work for the people instead of looking out for their own political interests.

[Ness in Silverlake]

I don't understand why the City doesn't establish a special municipal tax for these clinics. The City is over 503 million dollars in debt. They are looking for new revenue streams. Why not tax these businesses?

[MARTIN]

now conncil members take it personal they did this mess
where is the mayor on this as he the leader of los angeles
where is rocky back stabbere distric att on this
city hall have become a big joke , we are paying lots of money for this idiots
there is goin to be lots of lawsuts and we not just pay city hall but what evere this scams gets out of court
i have lost any faith on goverment in california .
god help us

[carlos]

we need politicians that represent the people's wishes, Cannabis clinics are operating within the law and are hurting no one.
vote the council out, they are going on a witch hunt trying to demonize the Patients and The clinics that provide their medicine
I don't have health insurance and most people don't have health insurance but the politicians want to keep natural remedies out of our hands, they need to stop attacking the residents and citizens who wish to medicate with cannabis.

[Mark Godfrey]

The LA City Council, God rot their souls, will finish up in 2010 just in time to see Cannabis legalized across the board.

Enjoy your busy year, you foolhardy tyrants!

[Collis Huntington]

Marijuana dispensaries should have the same licensing requirements as establishments that sell alcohol and tobacco products. This is not to imply that marijuana is as deadly as alcohol and tobacco, only that regulation and taxation is appropriate.

[Dave]

I'm all for the legalization and proliferation of the medical movement, but I agree with the council in this matter. I'm not a parent yet, but I have to say, I'd be pissed were I walking my child to school and I had to pass by a big neon green sign with "POT" flashing. Pharmacies don't have big Xanax signs lit up in their storefront. And also, nearly all of these dispensaries that have filed hardship still do not pay taxes because they generally aren't that smart, because they're willing to base their economy off of a chance that a hardship exemption might work (because it was originally designed for clubs ALREADY registered before the moratorium, if they had to relocate due to DAE presence). We've got enough clubs here. If these clubs were closed, the level of sketchiness and gang activity involved with those that are fronts would go down, and the quality of medication would go up. We need to shy away from neon-glowing KUSH MART shops and focus on our goal - medical marijuana - which involves a knowledgeable, research collective, not a pot shop. It's still medical.

[Otis Roundtree]

Seed+Soil+Sun+Water=Medicine
No need to tell me to not exceed the recommended dosage because it may harm my liver, kidneys or heart. No need to worry about the side effects because they are beneficial. Larger appetite, less anxiety, less pain, less inflamation. I would need to go to the local drug dealer (Pharmacist) to get vicodin, oxy cotton, zanex and other synthetic drugs that cost an arm and a leg and who knows what it will do to me 20yrs down the line.

[Logic]

I support medical marijuana and legalization for recreational use. Having said that, you can't just open a location anywhere you want. You must abide by all the regulations just like any business (businesses that sell alcohol for example must first obtain a conditional use permit not to mention health, fire dpt, ADA, tax ID, etc.). Imagine a dispensary being robbed that was near a school. It is unfair though that dispensaries that have a legitimate reasons for exemptions (being forced out of their previous location because the DEA threatened the landlords - they should be allow to re-open in another location) are beign forced to close permantly.

[Gina]

Most of these businesses ARE paying taxes, and that is why we can't afford to lose them!

[David Watson]

We need a new city council. I am a president of an HOA and I want the dispensaries in our neighboorhood. So if dummy in Winnetka doesn't want you, come to west L.A.

[Josh]

This is so comical. I don't live in LA, but in Santa Barbara. I visit your city often.

Has law enforcement been called more often for:

A- Marijuana Dispensaries
B- Bars

I would guess it's something like a 1-500 ratio of calls.

And assaults, rapes, auto deaths ,etc, involving

A- Marijuana
B- Alcohol

Probably closer to 1-1000.

Prohibition of marijuana is stupid and nonsenical. Given the potential revenue streams, and the crises facing local government, and the high unemployment rates, the city turned its back on a potential substantial revenue stream, and now sent hundreds of dispensary employees onto the unemployment line. For what? Any real reason?

I mean, anyone car to post anything other than "it's a joke". If you aren't a pothead, one would think you could come up with a more cogent rationale for your position.

Well done!

[Bill]

With the city in a budget crisis, these council members are wasting our tax dollars cutting revenue from Medical Marijuana?
Why did they wait until the last second and create so many possible exposures to lawsuits?
Maybe it's the Council who needs to stop smoking!

[Alan Shore]

We need to remember who these council people were and next election, vote them OUT! Freedom is the issue!

[Lloyd]

The AMA went on record in 1937 stating that marijuana does not have any negative side effects on the human physiology, this was upheld by a study at UCLA a few years ago. It was made illegal in 1937 because Mexicans coming to California looking for work was using it. As a matter of fact, if you check your history (starting with the Harrison Act, I think 1895 in San Fransisco), you would see that every drug law ever written (until recently) was done so to subjugate a certain minority group. later, after the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War it became our next war and helped fuel the biggest industry in America, the prison system. Government refuses to legalize marijuana for that reason, they would lose a large portion of the prison population, thus reducing their profit margin in the prison sector.

[John]

Way to go City Council.

A few pot dispensaries are fine, but the quasi-legal drug dealing that is popping up every few blocks is just ridiculous.

Pot should be legal. That said, there are a lot of stoner idiots taking advantage of the situation.

[Capt. Recall]

Does anybody know of efforts being made to start a petition to recall the City Council committee? What they are doing is not right, just today the FDA made another warning about Tylenol saying it is the number one cause of liver failure in the USA!!! And now this so called City Council committee has decided to take a harmless alternative away from tax paying people who need it!!!
(FDA.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529578,00.html)

The concept of any prohibition comes from the definition of a sumptuary law. A sumptuary law attempts to control and divide people into classes by limiting the desires of those considered the lesser class. Generally monarch type governments use sumptuary laws to inflict class separation through prohibiting the lesser class from participating in something reserved strictly by the so called upper class royalty.
Any 4th grade student understands this country was founded on the principles of individual freedoms.” A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." -Abraham Lincoln U.S. President. These same people pushing prohibition would be targeted for treason investigation had they been around during the founding of our country! Don’t Be fooled American people any prohibition enforcement against us is as UN-AMERICAN as Hitler!!
RECALL the City Council committee for tampering with our rights!!!

[Steven]

Even if EVERY one of the 600+ hardship application is denied, there will still be almost 200 "legal" dispensaries. Thats more than the # of Starbucks or McDonalds citywide. Medical marijuana will be widely available.

Most of the businesses had a chance to state their case in their applications and they DIDN'T. (You can read the applications online.) They just "cut & paste" the same identical statement hundreds of times. They didn't talk about their patients, their business, their location, their finances, nothing. Plus, they often located EXACTLY where the proposed reg's said they shouldn't?! That said, the only surprise would be if the applications WEREN'T denied.

Now if we can only get Walmart like "drop in clinics" to take their place. $4 generic drugs, after hours visits to a nurse or doctor without going to the ER, and no waiting 3 days for an appointment. THAT's needed alot more than medical marijuana shops!

[Tony_42]

"Pot should be legal. That said, there are a lot of stoner idiots taking advantage of the situation."

----------------------------------------------

LOL!

I think on a percentage basis the people walking around stoned on prescription drugs is much much greater than the number of cannabis users. I won't even include alcohol, we already know how destructive that one is.

If you don't like the dispensaries then decriminalize/legalize cannabis and let people grow their own. The dispensaries will disappear.

[Tony_42]

Ed Lower wrote:

They should close they all down. Medical marijuana is a joke.

----------------------------------------------------------------

What astounding ignorance!

I'll bet you are a Fox "News" disciple and a staunch bible thumping republican. LOL!

[Capt. Recall]

The concept of any prohibition comes from the definition of a sumptuary law. A sumptuary law attempts to control and divide people into classes by limiting the desires of those considered the lesser class. Generally monarch type governments use sumptuary laws to inflict class separation through prohibiting the lesser class from participating in something reserved strictly by the so called upper class royalty.
Any 4th grade student understands this country was founded on the principles of individual freedoms.” A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." -Abraham Lincoln U.S. President. These same people pushing prohibition would be targeted for treason investigation had they been around during the founding of our country! Don’t Be fooled American people any prohibition enforcement against us is as UN-AMERICAN as Hitler!!

[matt]

I find the closing of the Hope Collective in Winnettka ridiculous. Their complaint was that it was near two schools and the Canoga Park Bowling alley. This was a problem for the city council? I guess they did not notice the Strip Club that is in the same shopping center or the Liquour store?

So where does the city council draw it's moral line in the sand? It must not be straight.