The city's long struggle to control medical marijuana dispensaries took a new turn on Wednesday with the collection of 50,000 signatures on petitions to overturn the city's proposed ban on dispensaries. If the signatures are validated once they are formally submitted on Thursday, it will put the city's ban - scheduled to take effect on Sept.6 - on hold until the March 5 municipal election. Don Duncan, California director of Americans for Safe Access, urged the City Council to rescind its ordinance and return to negotiating with medical marijuana advocates. [continues 346 words]
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." [continues 170 words]
Supporters of medical marijuana clinics said Wednesday they are exploring legal options, including a potential ballot measure, to block a new city ordinance closing all dispensaries. "We think it's absolutely outrageous what the City Council did, and we will be proceeding with our supporters," said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access. Don Duncan, executive director for the organization, said they are developing the plan of action for a ballot measure that would repeal the ban and allow at least 182 dispensaries to remain open - those that were operating before the city's 2007 moratorium was imposed. [continues 797 words]
After years of struggling with the issue, the city of Los Angeles headed down the road Friday to a total ban on medical marijuana shops. The City Council's Public Safety Committee sent to the Planning Commission a series of recommendations to ban the estimated 300 dispensaries now open until the state Supreme Court decides if the city can regulate pot shops. Councilman Jose Huizar, whose Eastside district has 47 dispensaries, called for the ban even as he said he supports the right of people to have access to medical marijuana. [continues 544 words]
Marijuana: MS Sufferer Montel Williams Gives Some Advice on Standards. The Los Angeles City Council adopted a new law Friday creating a lottery system for medical marijuana clinics, while also looking at a new approach offered by television talk show host Montel Williams. The lottery system was prompted by a court order striking down parts of the city's new ordinance regulating clinics. Council members were concerned that failing to act on the lottery measure would leave the city open to the same "Wild Wild West" atmosphere as when illegal clinics were opening throughout the city. The council voted 12-0 to adopt the new ordinance. [continues 552 words]
The day both welcomed and dreaded by the medical marijuana community finally arrived Monday, when the law regulating clinics in Los Angeles took effect. A steady parade of operators filed into Los Angeles City Hall and paid $324 in application fees, which placed them on a list of clinics that will be notified in a month if they are eligible to continue operating. Elsewhere, however, owners kept their dispensaries shuttered, not willing to take a $2,500-a-day risk by flouting the law. [continues 501 words]
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday gave preliminary approval to a fee schedule for medical marijuana dispensaries, the final measure needed to be addressed before the city's medical marijuana ordinance can be enforced. Under the action, approved on a 9-1 vote, the council adopted a fee schedule for clinic operators to pay in order to be able to remain open. The move, which needs a final vote next week, was protested by dispensary advocates. The measure returns for a final vote next week. [continues 424 words]
MARIJUANA: Groups move to codify new applicant regulations for L.A. dispensaries. Moving to finalize regulations governing medical marijuana clinics, two city panels recommended Tuesday that applicants be charged fees totaling nearly $1,600. The proposals adopted by the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management and Budget and Finance committees require applicants to secure LAPD clearance and approvals from several city agencies. The proposed application fees include $151 for a police background check, $324 for City Clerk approvals and $688 for Department of Building and Safety permits, and about $500 for miscellaneous fees. [continues 123 words]
Ordinance: Restrictions Could Close, Move All but Five Facilities, Officials Say All but five of the city's estimated 800 to 1,000 medical marijuana clinics would be forced to shut down or move under the latest restrictions being considered by the Los Angeles City Council, officials said Wednesday. The council had intended to reduce the number to no more than 137. But members learned that the actual rules they drafted, including keeping them away from schools and residential areas, went further than they intended, making almost all of the city off-limits to the dispensaries. [continues 576 words]
The Los Angeles City Council took the first steps Tuesday to close existing medical marijuana clinics and prevent the opening of new ones until a permanent law governing their use is adopted. The actions were taken two years after the city passed a temporary moratorium on new clinics that has proven ineffective. Hundreds of operators have opened without getting full authorization from the city by using a "hardship exemption" loophole. On Tuesday, the city effectively began reviewing each of the hardship exemption requests, denying all 14 they heard. Ultimately, all of the clinics that opened with a hardship exemption must get approval from the city to legitimately operate as a business. [continues 525 words]
In a move to check the proliferation of questionable medical marijuana clinics, city officials moved Tuesday to close a loophole that has allowed nearly 500 clinics to set up shop over the past two years despite a city moratorium. A city panel voted to change the language on an interim measure that allowed clinics to open under a "hardship exemption" clause. The clause allowed clinics to argue why they should be allowed to open even with the moratorium in place. The City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved a proposal from Councilman Jose Huizar to strike the exemption from its Interim Control Ordinance, adopted in September 2007. [continues 164 words]
Renewing its opposition to federal raids at medical marijuana facilities, the Los Angeles City Council went on record again Wednesday in urging the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to allow the city to regulate the clinics. "We have put a moratorium in place on all new clinics until we develop regulations," Councilman Dennis Zine said. "Our goal is to bring the sale of medical marijuana under control so it is accessible to people who truly need it. "This is about the compassionate use of a medicine that helps sick people." [continues 301 words]
Wearing pink arm bands to show their support for the use of medical marijuana, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday asked for information on other cities' success in stopping clinic raids by federal agents. Voicing frustration with city efforts to develop operating guidelines for the clinics and protect them from raids, the council also asked the Los Angeles Police Department to review its policy on cooperating with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. "We know we have no control over the federal government, but I don't think we should play a role in helping them raid clinics we have authorized," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. [continues 268 words]
LOS ANGELES -- Pitting itself against the U.S. government, the Los Angeles City Council approved plans Wednesday to limit new medical-marijuana dispensaries, regulate existing ones and urge a moratorium on recent clinic raids by federal agents. Despite warnings that it is treading on legally treacherous ground, the council voted 10-2 to adopt the plan amid concerns that hundreds of illegal clinics have sprouted up since 1996, when California voters approved Proposition 215 allowing the use of medicinal marijuana. "When (the) law was first passed, we had two clinics operating in the city," said Councilman Dennis Zine, who proposed the plan to regulate operators. "Now we have more than 400. [continues 639 words]
The Los Angeles Police Department continues to have problems in its special account for informants -- with discrepancies in the amount of drugs reported seized and the actual amount confiscated, City Controller Rick Tuttle said Wednesday. The audit confirmed what the LAPD found in its own independent Board of Inquiry report following the Rampart Division corruption case disclosures involving the department's anti-gang units. "Even though the department is taking steps to correct the problem, I remain concerned over the possibility of mischief," Tuttle said in an interview. [continues 200 words]
Mayor Richard Riordan's office and the City Council clashed sharply Wednesday over how to pay hundreds of millions of dollars the city could owe from judgments and settlements arising from the L.A. police corruption scandal. The council's Budget and Finance Committee urged rejection of the mayor's proposal - to sell $300 million due the city over 25 years as its share of the national tobacco lawsuit case, for about $100 million now. The panel recommended instead the council take a go-slow approach by immediately setting aside $23 million into a special fund that would be increased over the years. If needed, the city then could issue judgment bonds. [continues 690 words]
A sharply divided Los Angeles City Council rebuffed a proposal on Tuesday to create a new independent panel to look at the Rampart Division scandal, saying it wanted to wait to see what is developed by the Los Angeles Police Department and what steps are taken by the Police Commission. The 8-6 vote against the proposal from Councilman Joel Wachs, however, did not not kill it outright. Instead it was sent to the council's Public Safety Committee -- on which Wachs serves -- for review at a later time. [continues 879 words]
Sought for their independence from Los Angeles' political culture, the FBI and U.S. Justice Department have joined the LAPD corruption investigation team to examine possible civil rights violations, officials said Wednesday. "As we transition into the next stage, it is important for us to look at the most significant issues, which we believe are the potential civil rights violations," Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said at a Parker Center news conference with Mayor Richard Riordan, District Attorney Gil Garcetti and federal law enforcement officials. [continues 1084 words]
Six months after the Rampart Division scandal erupted, Los Angeles officials stood together for the first time Tuesday and supported the LAPD investigation and Police Commission review process in the face of calls for independent probes of the LAPD. "What you are seeing is a landmark event in the history of Los Angeles," Mayor Richard Riordan said at a news conference after appearing before the City Council with Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and Police Commission President Gerald Chaleff. "We are standing together to support the Christopher Commission reforms and an independent civilian investigation by our Police Commission." [continues 986 words]
