Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jul 2012
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact: http://www.dailynews.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.dailynews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/246

LONG BEACH IS RIGHT TO GO AFTER MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES, BUT CITY'S 
TACTICS NEED REVIEW

Medical marijuana dispensaries have a little more than a month to 
shut down and get out of Long Beach.

That's because the City Council on Tuesday decided not to extend a 
waiver for 18 permitted dispensaries that were given six-month 
exemptions from a citywide ban in February.

This was the wisest decision the council could make. Long Beach must 
be dispensary-free until the state Supreme Court makes a decision on 
an appeals court ruling from last year that says cities can't 
restrict the number or locations of outlets.

Closing the doors of the last dispensaries is likely to be a 
struggle. And the Long Beach Police Department must be on the right 
side of things. It's not entirely clear at the moment that the police 
are playing their role correctly -- at least that's the perception 
one might have after seeing the video of a recent raid of a 
nonpermitted dispensary. The video, aired on NBC local news Wednesday 
night, shows a man who appears to be a police officer smashing a 
surveillance camera.

Workers at the dispensary complained the officers used excessive 
force when they raided the business; one said his neck was stepped 
on. The video lends that claim credibility. Smashing cameras is what 
people do when they are doing something they aren't supposed to be 
doing. But LBPD is in the right, and should be able to operate a raid 
and be comfortable with the whole world looking on.

Police officials didn't want to discuss the details of the case, but 
they should provide some reasonable explanation of what happened in 
this raid. And the details and explanation should come before the 
Aug. 12 deadline for dispensaries to shut down.

This probably won't be the last dispensary raid in Long Beach, and 
the police department needs to be transparent and professional in each of them.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom