Pubdate: Fri, 30 Oct 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: A32, Lead Editorial
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - United States)

PUTTING A LID ON POT SALES

Weeding Out Illegitimate Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Is a Job for 
the Cops, Not the City Council.

For-profit medical marijuana dispensers beware: The city of Los 
Angeles is focusing its finest legal and political minds on putting 
you out of business. And if you want to see what happens when you run 
afoul of this crack team of nuisance abaters, just look at the fate 
of those trying to put up illegal billboards all over town.

Oops, bad example. L.A. has been trying for years to limit 
billboards, only to violate its own ordinance by carving out 
exceptions and see its ban overturned in court. That doesn't mean 
city officials couldn't do a better job with marijuana, but their 
record doesn't inspire confidence.

The City Council has been trying unsuccessfully for two years to stop 
the spread of dispensaries, issuing a moratorium in 2007 but then 
failing to enforce it and allowing anyone who claimed "hardship" 
status to open a new storefront. That moratorium was voided last week 
in court, prompting the council to push forward plans for a vote on a 
new city ordinance placing heavy restrictions on where and how 
marijuana clinics can operate. But the ordinance, now in its fourth 
draft, was too tough for some members, so it's headed back for a fifth draft.

Here's a thought for the council: The next time a marijuana ordinance 
appears, just say no. The city doesn't need one.

Medical marijuana has become a serious nuisance in L.A. Hundreds of 
stores have cropped up in recent years, many concentrated in 
downtrodden neighborhoods and bringing a criminal element with them. 
There are legitimate marijuana cooperatives serving genuinely ill 
patients, yet there are also storefronts pushing pot to recreational 
users and raking in illicit profits while getting their supply from 
criminal cartels in Mexico and Northern California. The city doesn't 
need a new ordinance to get rid of the latter. It could just start 
enforcing state law.

In August 2008, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown released a set of guidelines 
on possession, cultivation and use of medical marijuana. To operate 
legally, distributors must be nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. 
The former are democratically controlled operations in which profits 
are shared by their members, who are also their patrons. The latter 
facilitate transactions between members who are legally entitled to 
grow their own marijuana. A later ruling by the California Supreme 
Court decreed that medical marijuana distributors must be their 
clients' "primary caregivers," meaning someone who has consistently 
assumed responsibility for their housing, health or safety. That 
rules out a dispensary owner selling trippy buds behind a counter.

A problem caused by a failure to enforce the law won't be solved by 
passing a new law. It's time to call in the cops, not the council members. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake