L.A. City Council rejects 28 pot dispensaries

The Los Angeles City Council has denied applications from 28 medical marijuana dispensaries that wanted permission to operate despite a moratorium, clearing the way for the city to shut down any that have opened.

Since the council started to consider applications last month, it has denied every one, ruling against 43, including the 28 on Tuesday.

The council is struggling to assert control over the sale of medical marijuana in the city after its moratorium on new dispensaries proved toothless. Hundreds have opened despite the 2007 ban.

The city has stopped accepting applications for exemptions, but 883 were filed before the council closed the loophole. Until it adopts a permanent ordinance to control dispensaries, a task that has confounded the council for years, it intends to plow through the applications.

-- John Hoeffel

Comments

[Jerry Tsai]

Good! It's ridiculous-- every single person I've seen go into these dispensaries are pretty obviously healthy and Mary Jane seems to be the only "medicine" they would elect to take.

[AB 390]

Marijuana should be legal not only for medical patients but for responsible adults who choose it as a healthier alternative to alcohol. Americans should not be arrested for making healthier choices about their own bodies.

The current laws are unenforceable. Despite arresting 800,000 Americans a year, pot is still easier to buy for high school students than beer.

Keeping marijuana illegal does not benefit our children. It benefits special interest groups: the alcoholic beverage industry, the prison industry, police departments, government bureaucrats, and drug cartels.

Tell your legislators in Sacramento to legalize marijuana now. It’s easy. Visit http://yes390.org

[tyler]

This is to Mr Jerry Tsai.So you can look at someone and tell if they are sick or not? So you can tell if someone has Breast Cancer? How ingnorant are you? Do you just hang out in front of dispensaries to people watch. I have a medical card and if you looked at me you would see that I was fine also! But I am not.If I did not have Medical Marijuana, I would be 100 pounds at 5'7. Now I am at 123,thanks to Marijuana.I have been to doctors to see what they could do for me.I dont have any hunger.They all said that I should be THANKFUL i was thin. So Mr Tsai,think about what you say before you put it out there!

[Jonathan Damiels]

I'm sick too. Jack Daniels and a little coke relieve my pain and make me feel better. Why must everyone judge and discriminate against me and my serious illness.

[Jerry Tsai]

The problem is that the number of legitimate patients is dwarfed by the number of illegitimate ones. L.A. has HUNDREDS of pot dispensaries RIGHT NOW. You can find one on virtually every block. Oakland has 4; San Francisco has 20. Do we have hundreds of times more sick people than these cities? Puh-lease.

No one has said that we should eliminate them all, but the huge numbers that have opened obviously are selling mostly to people who wrangle prescriptions from rubber stampers.

[Anon]

The fact that the city is striking down Hardship Exemptions for dispensaries which opened AFTER the Moratorium is one thing - but the Hardship Exemption clause was written into this ICO specifically for the clubs which were opened prior to the Moratorium and were displaced by DEA Landlord letters, thus preventing them from registering by Nov 2007. It is unlawful that this small group of collectives, which absolutely suffered a hardship, to be grouped in - and subsequently denied - simply because some slick 420 lawyer discovered a loophole, which resulted in the current over-population of Medical Marijuana clubs we now have! Had the City of Los Angeles come up with permanent rules and regulations in the two years since enacting the Moratorium, we would not be in this situation.

[Cindy, mother of two]

Good! It's ridiculous-- every single person I've seen go into these dispensaries are pretty obviously healthy and Mary Jane seems to be the only "medicine" they would elect to take.

Posted by: Jerry Tsai | July 15, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Mr. Tsai, You should be ashamed of yourself, you sir are doing nothing more than stereotyping, and you obviously cant see that yourself otherwise you wouldn't of said such a rotten thing. My 21 year old daughter has been diagnosed with Familial Hemiplegic Migraine, its a rare type of migraine that is far worse and also makes her left side of her body go completely numb as if she had a stroke, and this has lasted up to three days straight where she cant even get out of bed. Marijuana was prescribed to her as more of a wide symptom drug, and ever since she started using it she hasn't had not one episode, and doesn't suffer anymore. She "looks" like any other normal girl, the same people you were mocking in your comment. It is in your best interest to grow up and realize the world is a lot bigger than just you. I don't mean to be rude, I just want you to understand that not all sick people "look" sick,, and that whole image thing goes for almost everything "don't judge a book by its cover" good day to you sir

[Olden Atwoody]

Jerry Tsai:

You stated:

...It's ridiculous-- every single person I've seen go into these dispensaries are pretty obviously healthy and Mary Jane seems to be the only "medicine" they would elect to take....

Exactly how many patients have you personally observed entering “these (more than one?) dispensaries? Are you a Doctor or a Cop with x-ray vision and super powers of divination? You strike me as one of the same intolerant fools who hassle apparently healthy drivers in a handicap space, where in the disability may be lungs, heart, vision or more.

I presume you are Asian. Do you feel similarly about so-called “Chinese medicine” or acupuncture? Do you think the holistic Asian pharmacies in Monterey Park, Korea town or Chinatown should be closed, too?

Jerry, your prejudice is showing and your Mother is upset with you for dissing your heritage. Say "Sorry", and don’t be like that again, alright?

[Michael Larsen]

Good for you for speaking out Jerry Tsai, and please don't let the pro-legalization shills make you doubt that your comments are correct and appropriate. They have been reciting their scripts about "the poor sick people" for years and this has been one of the main reasons politicians have steered clear of this issue and led to the problems we face now.

It's time for clear, tough, realistic action by the city, and we are finally seeing it thanks to efforts by Neighborhood Councils.

As you can see by this comment area, most "medical marijuana advocates" (AB390) are really just pro-legalization advocates hiding behind prop 215. They are the one's who mock real patients and actually end up hurting any legitimacy of the medicinal movement. True medical marijuana advocates don't cloud the issue by pushing for recreational use or fight against sensible regulation by the City.

[lance mowdy]

there is no such thing as an illegitimate patient unless otherwise deemed that by a physician. its not news that you can walk into any health center or treatment center an get a prescription of meds for saying you have back pain. and as citizens, who are we to judge. why do i have to have cancer or hiv in order to be accepted into legitimacy? even more so why do you think i need to be accepted into your realm of legitimacy? shut your mouths and live your lives. all this fuss about "pot shops"... its pointless and endless. them operating affects no one but those involved.

[Jillian]

I am thrilled they are finally closing these shady shops. I have no problem with legitimately run shops. But from my personal experience, they have been sketchy and brought nothing but young carloads of kids buying then smoking up in the alley behind my apartment, peeing in my garbage cans, grafitti and car burglaries. Again, I have no problem with a well run business and completely support medical marijuana but this shop by my house has brought nothing but trouble and it has to go.