Pubdate: Thu, 23 Aug 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
Author: Rick Orlov

CITY OF L.A. ASKING DA, FEDS FOR HELP SHUTTING DOWN MEDICAL MARIJUANA 
CLINICS

Even as the city's ban on medical marijuana is facing legal and
political challenges, the City Council on Wednesday asked local and
federal law enforcement agencies to develop new strategies to enforce
the shutdown.

"We need to get out of the way of law enforcement," Councilman Bernard
Parks said of his request asking the Los Angeles Police Department to
coordinate with the district attorney and Drug Enforcement
Administration on an enforcement policy.

"Federal law is clear. State law is clear," said Parks, a former L.A.
police chief. "State law allows collectives. It does not allow for the
sale of marijuana."

The City Council recently adopted a proposal to close down all the
medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city as of next month
and the City Attorney's Office sent a letter to landlords advising
them of the law.

However, a lawsuit has been filed challenging the city measure and
proponents of medical marijuana have been working to qualify a
referendum challenging the law.

Parks said he tried to introduce a similar measure five years ago, but
action was never taken on it.

Kris Hermes, spokesman for the pro-medical marijuana group Americans
for Safe Access, said they were surprised by the action.

"This proposal is unsettling to have local government work with the
federal government to undermine a state law," Hermes said.

"We have maintained that passing a total ban is illegal and we're in
state court fighting that and are collecting signatures on our
referendum. We expect to qualify it in early September when the new
city law is scheduled to take effect."
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MAP posted-by: Matt