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LOS ANGELES -- While Los Angeles officials were working out exactly how to phrase a letter to 762 registered pot dispensaries ordering them to shut down, medical marijuana advocates vowed Wednesday to overturn the City Council's newly approved ban on the stores.
The ban was approved unanimously on Tuesday after hours of debate and years of consternation over the growing number of pot shops in the city.
The council's action followed a seemingly contradictory 9-5 vote on a proposal that would allow 182 marijuana dispensaries that registered with the city under a 2007 ordinance to remain in operation. But the specifics of that proposal still need to be written and reviewed – a process that could take months.
See the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com
Councilman Jose Huizar, who championed the pot-shop ban, had said the exemption for the 182 dispensaries would give "false hope" to medical marijuana advocates.
On Wednesday, his spokesman Rick Coca sought to clarify that there's only one ordinance right now: A ban that is slated to go into effect within 40 days.
The new ordinance allows groups of up to three patients and their caregivers to grow their own medical marijuana, and it provides an exemption for hospices, licensed clinics and home-health agencies.
City officials were discussing Wednesday whether to send a notice to the 762 registered pot shops from the Los Angeles Police Department or from the City Attorney's Office.
It's also unclear which shops will be targeted first, in case some refuse to shut down. "Enforcement priorities" will be determined by LAPD, City Attorney's Office spokesman Frank Mateljan said.
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"We do expect tremendous voluntary cooperation. Nobody likes to be the subject of a criminal prosecution," said Jane Usher with the City Attorney's Office said. "The harder cases, we'll work with LAPD. We'll be complaint driven. We'll only pursue those dispensaries that are disrupting their neighborhoods."
Coca said he expects broad compliance with the ban, even if there are some resisters.
"If there's 300 extra stores, that's about 600 less than we have now," Coca said.
David McNew / Getty Images file
A budtender pours marijuana from a jar at the Perennial Holistic Wellness Center medical marijuana dispensary on Wednesday in Los Angeles. The center opened in 2006.
City officials have estimated there are at least 850 pot stores within Los Angeles' nearly 470 square miles, some of them operating without proper permits and approvals.
Medical marijuana advocates, who packed council chambers and shouted out after the vote Tuesday, said they were prepared to continue fighting the ban.
Americans for Safe Access, a national advocacy group, issued a statement announcing a planned ballot-box campaign to overturn the council vote.
"This is an outrage that the City Council would think a reasonable solution to the distribution of medical marijuana would be to simply outlaw it altogether," said Don Duncan, California director of the group, in a statement.
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"The tens of thousands of patients harmed by this vote will not take it sitting down," Duncan said. "We will campaign forcefully to overturn this poor decision by the council."
Duncan could not be reached by NBC4 for comment Wednesday, but a spokesman for the organization told KPCC that a planned referendum campaign would seek voter approval for a delay of the ban. KPCC reported the group would need to gather more than 27,000 valid voter signatures to qualify the referendum for the ballot.
If enough valid signatures are gathered, that in itself could delay enforcement of the ban until voters weigh in, according the City Attorney's Office.
Americans for Safe Access supported the measure from Councilman Paul Koretz that would allow 182 registered stores to operate.
An attorney who represents dispensary owners and members said some of them want to sue over the ban.
City council officials in Los Angeles says medical marijuana dispensaries are "out of control" and have approved a ban. KNBC's Kim Baldonado reports.
Lawyer Marina Turovsky said the ban could push clients and dispensary businesses into neighboring cities that will still allow them, such as West Hollywood, which has four pot shops.
The expansion of a small number of remaining shops could draw a crackdown from the federal government, which has in recent months raided large marijuana dispensaries in the Bay Area, Turovsky said.
"If only a few are allowed anywhere, they will expand, they will get bigger, and they will get on this radar. There is not much we can do about it other than try to fight this ban," Turovsky said.
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Leave a Comment:
I hope they are able to over turn this.
I have a solution for the City of Los Angeles, why don't they just turn their list over to the DEA and let them handle how to deal with the criminals who are illegally distributing the schedule 1, controlled substances.
The DEA is overloaded enforcing Schedule III synthetic marijuana that is killing people.
I'm just wondering with all those people smoking pot in one place where are all the crazy murders and rapes by Marijuana smokers the Federal Government has been warning us about since the 1930's? You dont think the government would actually lie about something for that long do you????????
I think they need to regulate the amount of shops the numbers are getting rather ridiculous. Everybody is out to make a buck and that's going to screw it up for everybody.
What is wrong with making a buck? Sales are down at places like Amazon and Radio Shack. What's wrong with selling something that people actually want?
by "medical pot fans" I assume you mean individuals suffering from injuries, diseases and other debilitating conditions who rely on the hundreds of proven benefits associated with cannabis.
I understand how an organization whose primary stockholders also own stock in private prison corporations would want to slant the story as you stand to "earn" tremendous profits for criminalizing any/everything, but know that America is waking up and people can see through your BS.
Your empire is collapsing. You can't stop it.
Leave it to a politician to once again overrule the people and "know what's best for them". People need to overrule the Government, not the other way around! The easiest way would be to always demand a jury trial with anything related to cannabis crimes and take your chances with a verdict of your peers. Jury nullification does work, and will continue to work but the prosecuters are deathly afraid of it so they throw a dozen charges against you and try and get you to plea bargain "down" to something less so they can avoid any trial by a jury of your peers! Guilty verdicts haunt some people for life, and placing cannabis users into Drug counseling is a joke that can cause more harm than good. The Drug war - just like Prohibition - has been, continues to be and will always be a failure! End the "War on (some) Plants", end the attacks on Americans 4th and 5th Amendment Rights and perhaps we will no longer be the "prison capital of the world!"
Tips for becoming a stealth juror: If you are called up to perform jury duty in a marijuana case, you will be asked by the prosecutor if you would convict someone for a marijuana offense. Say "Maybe if the prosecutor has a strong case". During jury deliberations, vote not guilty. Do not give a personal reason for voting not guilty; just say that you don't think that the prosecution proved its case. Your vote will result in a hung jury which will force the prosecutor to offer the defendant a better plea deal. If enough marijuana cases end in hung juries, prosecutors will not bother to try these cases. This strategy helped end alcohol prohibition.
.......sure that will happen.....now where oh where did i park my unicorn ??............:)
1. have you looked around the last four years?.........tens of thousands? hell that's a mere drop in the bucket but the sheeple still blat,,,,gotta love la-la land.................:)
2. This will be over before the advarage stoner even figgers out what the hell is going on in the real world, i can see it now...."Dude, what happened to the shop? ...it was right here ! .....i think ?!?"..............:)
LA Scooter,
Were you going for humor? fail.
Just legalize it already. Our country will be a mellower, safer place.
Damn politicians should be worrying about how to get their budgets under control and leave the nonissues like medical marijuana alone.
In the past 12 years, in the state of Nevada alone, at least nine peoples lives were taken by 'stoned' drivers. Las Vegas 2000 ~ then 22 yo Jessica Williams killed 6 youth detention workers assigned to roadside cleanup; she was driving high on pot and "E" on I-15 at the time (so much for "pot smokers more likely to be driving slower, if at all angle") 2001 Reno ~ then 20yo Robert McKellips killed a 17yo mother and her infant child after smoking 'one joint' (so much for the 'a little won't kill anybody' angle) 2008 Las Vegas ~ an off-duty NHP sargeant killed another motorist at a busy intersection (so much for low-speed 'buzzed' driving angle).
For the percentage-crowd, how many traffic deaths is an acceptable amount? less than .75 a year?
Not sure about any other states, but you don't need to be a terminal patient in Nevada to get medical pot, you just need to find a doctor who hands out permits like candy. Sad but true.
The year before legalizing med pot, AZ had a 16 year low highway death toll (at 807) in 2009; making it a year that was hard to beat. They did it though because in 2010 (with legal med pot) the number of highway fatalities dropped another 11% making 2010 a 60 year low!! This was also a year that the average number of hours spent of the highways nationwide had reached an all time high. Now, personally I don't believe pot had anything to do with this but I do think it goes to show that pot is NOT a major contributing factor to highway fatalities.
In fact, your own data shows that there is no statistical correlation. 0.75 deaths a year is a joke (even when you include people who, by your own admission, are also on very serious drugs like E). A 0.09% incidence rate, are you going to use that as an argument against it? That would be laughable if I didn't know you morons were serious. Your number are actually so low that even I would bet that more people who got into accidents in AZ those years were using pot while driving but I still don't think that pot was actually the problem; it was carelessness and simple human error of course.
I'm not done with you, you obviously aren't much of an authority on pot so let me inform you about pot a little. A joint is not a measurement of pot. A joint is only a method of ingestion. A joint can have virtually any amount of pot in it but the one thing that can be said is it is that if it was made using a full standard rolling paper, most likely, at least a minimum amount of .25g of pot was used. This is actually a lot of pot for one person to smoke. You may have heard people bragging at some point about how many joints they smoked or whatever but this is a lot like people who brag about how many bottles of booze they drank; it's usually an inflated amount and often times they failed to mention the others that helped them. The truth is that pot is different that alcohol here though because when someone smokes a joint like that they are basically wasting half of it. Pot isn't like many other drugs because you can only get so high on pot. After you reach a certain level the effects don't really increase with more usage because the more you do the faster your body cleans it out (this is mainly because THC will absorb into fat tissue unlike any other common recreational drug). This means that the only real way to get higher is to smoke better pot; smoking more pot isn't going to help you get a better buzz unless you can figure out a way to smoke it really fast (which is what a joint allows) and even then the increased effects don't last long (usually 5-10 min if you're lucky).
Lastly, the sad thing is that people need to make up excuses to do things that do no harm to others such as pot in a country that calls itself free. By looking at your name, I can assume that you are a gambling enthusiast. Personally, I think that gambling is a waste of time and money and I think the decor is hideous at most casinos and some people are really not able to handle it. However, I will fight to keep it legal just as hard as I fight to keep pot legal because I believe in freedom. Freedom isn't about keeping people safe and orderly; it's about causing trouble and railing against the forces that want to control us. I'm not asking you to fall in love with pot but if you love freedom and the values we as Americans cherish then you will support it's legalization (and not just for medical use).
Don't need to put your hand on a stovetop burner to know what hot means. I mis-spent my youth in enough haze clouds and have seen enough empirical and anecdotal evidence to believe legalizing pot is not good for our country, in too many ways to accurately count. As for your assumptions about what I do with my money, I work for a Nevada casino and we paid cash for our comfy condo with the money gambled away by the 'losers' you so haphazardly lumped me in with. Thanks for playing, though.
My belief casinoguy is you probably don't work and you are just one more parasite using my tax dollars. I don't smoke dope but unlike you I do keep up on current events and the greatest security risk to this country are the mexican cartels so lets just take about a third of their profit away from them. The US by % has more people in prison than any other country in the world. Probably doesn't bother you as you have never paid taxes in your life but it does me. Trying to prohibit pot has been about as sucessful as prohibiting booze or gambling and only leads to abusive behaivor by govt officials (DEA). Instead of those lazy fat asses busting Americans they should be down on the border. The "Drug War" was lost a long time ago. So worthless piece of trailer trash casino guy, if you do actually work, legal gambling has done more damage to more people than any drug ever has or do you just work for the cartels or a loser fed employee that depends on the drug war for your job. Any way you are just a loser
Why do liberals always resort to name-calling, mud-slinging and attempted character assasination whenever someone disagrees with them? Baffling, for sure.
Casinoguy....
Your attempt at logic is frightening. One accident PROVES this, another ONE accident PROVES that....no other information, no control subjects, no scientific study or testing.... Just put together a little scrapbook of newsclips, and, wa la, you have PROOF!
Driving is very dangerous, and the typical driver scares the hell out of me. Incompetence, carelessness, not paying attention, chatting on pretty little cell phones....the utter insanity of text messaging and driving....there are many, many causes of traffic accidents. To single out one group, and show a couple of newspaper articles as PROOF, and then go about locking up anyway who might fit in this group....probably not the best way to reduce accidnets, if that is even your goal.
Marijuana is a mild sedative. Too much can impair driving, but it is far from the top of the list of reasons for traffic accidents. And there is no standard for the amount that causes impairment, as with alcohol. To imprison every one who smokes marijauna would involve milliions and millions of people. Meanwhile, alcohol is not only legal, but a huge source of tax revenue. Precription drugs, sleeping pills, and other legal substances are just as dangerous at impairing driving.
Frankly, I'm much more worried about getting run into by some idiot on a cell phone, or using a GPS, or just an imcompetent driver, than I am about your imaginary threat of legions of stoned drivers.
This is a stupid argument. More people die to sober driving mistakes in a day than you lost in 12 years, more people die from pit bulls than "high drivers" and you still see them on every street. If that is your only and best argument then it's pretty pathetic. How many people die from texting while driving? Or being drunk while driving? Why don't you back a ban on cellphones pitt bulls and alcohol before you complain about "High Drivers" are you really that stupid? Really?
So tired of simple minded people like you.
Casino loser you must have lost your marbles along with your paycheck in vegas. Is that all you can come up with a bunch of antiquated misinformation about people that were under the influence of several intoxicants. Go back to Vegas so you can file for Bankruptcy and suck on your bottle of Booze.
I'd stoop to the stone-throwing level too, if I knew in my heart of hearts I didn't have a leg to stand on.
Wow: There's another "mellow" druggie.
Seems to me that allowing small groups to grow there own supply as opposed to obtaining it from a dispensary is just encouraging drug rings
Exactly!
the pot of today is not stronger than pot of years ago. now it's easyer to find good pot.car wreaks and pot may happen from time to time but hardly at all the records show this to be true at federal level.. one could smoke STRONG POT all day long and still be safer than if someone just had a few beers.. the strongest pot is safe, you just smoke less to get high,da.yes hash is higher in thc. even in the 70's we have been smoking hash for years no problems yes it's alot stronger than just weed.hash in the 70's is as strong as pot of today.just smoke it and find out the truth and if your a first timer just take a hit don't smoke the whole joint.
I've smoked marijuana since 1967. I smoke it at home to relax; not go out in public and drive a car. As a matter of fact, I don't know anyone that actually smokes marijuana and decides to go for a joy ride. I don't smoke and sit and get all stoned. After all these years, I have built up a resistence to it so I only get mellow from it. Now that I am a senior citizen, I find that it is the only thing that helps me with my chronic neck and back pain and insomnia. Of lately, I've been considering leaving So. Florida and relocating to Southern California so that I can get Medical Marijuana. For that reason, I am closely monitoring this "Ban on Marijuana Disperencies". I am living proof that Marijuana is NOT a gateway drug. I've smoked Marijuana most of my life and never went on to any other harder drugs. Just Pot. I don't even fill the prescriptions that my Doctors give me for my pain because I don't like pain killers and the effects they have on me. I just smoke my Pot and cope with my disability as best as I can. In all of my life, I have never known one person who has overdosed from marijuana or committed a crime for it other than have to buy it illegally. I just can't understand why it has not been legalized in the USA when the law prohibiting posession of it is totally archiac. They overturned alcohol prohibition before I was even born and marijuana is way less harmful. I've always said that I believe that marijuana is God's gift to us. We can just smoke it or add it to food in it's natural form without adding any chemicals to it. I just pray that I have the opportunity to see it's legalization on a federal level in my lifetime.
Kudos to Chris 749391. I've smoked pot since 1967. I am now 62 and suffer from multiple herniated discs and severe degenerative disease in my neck and low back. I can't take any opiated drugs because they make me constipated which only proves to aggravate my already severe pain. The only thing that helps my pain and allows me to sleep is Marijuana. I don't smoke it and go out on a joy ride and mug innocent people. I smoke it in the confines of my home; although it is illegal in my State. For that reason, I have been seriously entertaining the idea of relocating to California for the medical marijuana. With my MRI's, any doctor out there will write me a prescription. That's why I'm watching this Ban Situation closely to see the outcome. I've always said that Marijuana is God's Gift to us. You smoke it or add it to food in it's natural state. No need to add chemicals that could harm us in the long run. I just pray that it is legalized on a federal level before I die.
I know it's a little off-topic, but could anyone tell me if there has been any follow-up to the incident early this month when the police raided a dispensary and brutalized the employee and illegally destroyed the surveillance cameras? It seems to have disappeared from the news.
The ban is being overturned as we speak!
I have a debilitating and incredibly painful, terminal illness. It has advanced rapidly and left me with little time, and little relief from constant pain. Soon my muscles will become frozen and I will be completely unable to move or communicate, trapped in a useless shell but fully aware of everything. Alone with my thoughts and my pain I will, no doubt, go insane before death. For now I am at the maximum doses of morphine the doctor can allow because, ironically, more would kill me. There is no such thing as a pain "killer". They are no longer effective, so he added marijuana. I don't get high, but it helps enough so I can sleep for a little while. It controls nausea and vomiting so I can hold down food. There are many of us out here. We are not streetwise and don't have any idea where else to get it, or know anyone who does. Nor would we. In any situation there are those on both ends who will take advantage, and because of them we are out here alone and very frightened. So please, close down my registered dispensary, lock me up and give me the death penalty.
Has anyone in LA checked Jose Huizar's stance on the marijuana smugglers across the border? Maybe he has a conflict of interest in this matter. With a spokesman named Rick Coca, it sure sounds curious.
Unfortunately the prejudice against marihuana brought on by so much propaganda and lies has kept many chronic pain sufferers away from a safer alternative for dealing with chronic pain. Unfortunately today's so called leaders are the best money can buy, they are sold out to their own special interests and not the needs of the people. That is why we the people need to fire them in massive numbers to get our point across that we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Otherwise we will deserve everything we have coming to us.American citizens don't have control of America anymore it is now controlled by industrialized elitist that only care about profit not who lives or dies. The US goes on with it's own agenda and keeps it's people well divided and conquered. The USA is burning while the career politicians serve their special interest masters,it doesn't matter who gets in as long as big money decides both parties, I'm going to keep voting every incumbent out and for as many independents as I can. If everyone did that it wouldn't change the government in one election but it would sure shake them up to realize that if they do not start serving the people over big money contributions they will be finding temporary employment.The only thing that is going to save the country is putting the pressure on government to serve the people rather then self interests. The major problem is that we really don't hold all of our leaders accountable. We let them toss the hot potato of blame back and forth blaming each other. The truth is that they are all responsible for making excuses rather then solving problems while serving their own self interests then the country that they have sworn an oath to protect. We seem to have either totally incompetent people in power, totally corrupt people or both from what I can see of the direction that this world is heading.Unfortunately the rest of the country will keep putting the sold out traitors back in office until we become another third world country with only the rich overlords and the poor slave class .One election won't change much but if the people stand together and start voting these traitors out of office it will send them the message that we the people are mad as hell and not going to let them buy and sell our country anymore either way we as a people will get the government that we deserve.
Marijuana legal? the governmant say no way you'll put all the drug companys out of buisness.. cut into there bottom line a bit too much...we can;t regulate this or make it into a pill in a lab.. another words make money of of it...its a weed anyone can grow it...that's what the gov.is afraid of..the use of medical marijuana to wean some patients off of opiates is a option but the gov.will never look into this..
ITS all bs * BUT*?
they are gonna keep screwing around until more of us get a tractor and run their asses over!
I don't like that they are screwing with people and their lives BUT ! I cant say I blame them for being overwhelmed by the # of shops that have sprung up all over , And i am sure that not everyone wants one on their street corner , Don't know if I would ? maybe down a block and around the corner COOL!
I myself hate to see weed go commercial , Mom & Pop shops Yes and it being a plant IMO should be allowed at the local farmers market like any produce , Going commercial my surly BITE US ALL RIGHT IN THE A$$ .
But being stuck in Iowa it may be a while be for anything happens here ? Crassly grew-up on refer madness and is overly afraid of ( THE BIG BAD DEMON WEED ) he is a crusty Old Pussy ! scared of a plant that has never and cant hurt anyone , not to say anything about all the proven benefits it can provide , or the fact that we the people WANT AND NEED / DEMAND IT!!!!!!
The hemp industry that our country was founded on and relied on for most everything , AND Could provide many many JOBS that we could really use right now !!!!
Is this losing WAR ON OUR OWN PEOPLE really worth overlooking the benefits that could come from just legalizing a plant that never should have been outlawed in the first place , being made the fall guy for the wealthy few , and the fuel for a race game with BLACKS , and MEXICANS And so the 1% could stay the 1% .
I could go on and on about 100's of things !
ITS NOT GOING TO LEAD TO A WORLD OF STONED ZOMBIES any more than people abusing their MEDS Rx now !