Photo: AP/Reed Saxon, File
In a lengthy meeting punctuated by a vocal audience and a power outage, the Los Angeles City Council yesterday agreed with the City Attorney's Office on a new draft medical marijuana ordinance that could crack down on L.A. residents' ability to obtain medical marijuana.
L.A. government infighting
The Council and the City's Attorney's Office have been at odds over how to handle medical marijuana distribution. The fight has been over terms like "sale" and "cash contribution." While California law permits people to use marijuana for medical purposes upon a doctor's recommendation, the pot must be cultivated either by a "qualified patient," his or her "primary caregiver," or a not-for-profit "collective." The City Attorney's representatives, citing a KFI radio interview, claimed that California Attorney General Jerry Brown has ruled that no "sales" of medical marijuana are allowed in California. Some parties claim that the transactions at numerous Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are "sales." However, some on the City Council accused City Attorney Carmen Trutanich of playing politics by taking an overly strict view of California law in order to shut down L.A.'s medical marijuana dispensaries. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley appears to share this view, and both seem gung-ho about prosecuting offending dispensaries. In fact, Brown's written guidelines about the law do not appear to ban all "sales" of medical marijuana to qualified patients.
City Council takes the conservative approach
In any event, the Council agreed not to include the word "sale" in its draft ordinance, but instead, to permit cash "contributions," "reimbursements," and "compensations" to the collectives to cover their expenses, provided that such collectives are comprised of "primary caregivers" and "qualified patients," and consistent with state law. The draft ordinance, which is supposed to be distributed and voted upon by the Council next week, will also likely lead to LAPD investigations of collectives to determine their legitimacy, which could result in a crackdown.
Get ready for court battles
Whatever new ordinance the City Council passes, however, L.A.'s medical marijuana system seems destined for the California courts, which will have to decide questions such as, what constitutes a prohibited "sale" of marijuana versus an authorized "contribution" to a collective; who can be part of the permitted collectives; and whether patients must contribute more to a collective than just cash in order to be a member. That means that the thousands of people involved in L.A.'s medical marijuana system may have no assurances, perhaps for years, that their actions are legal.
A plea for compassion and common sense
One woman at the Council meeting used her opportunity as a member of the public to tell the Council that, given that women who are raped in the Los Angeles area sometimes face years-long backlogs to have their evidence and their cases considered, it would be a tragedy if the City devoted more police and court resources to prosecuting medical marijuana clinics and patients instead of helping these women.
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Comments
Generally it is the prohibitionists beating there chests and screaming about how it's against Federal law to use cannabis.
Those 19th century scare mongers have been placed directly into the light where everyone can see them now for who they actually are.
Also placed into the light are the recommendations from the AMA and many more Physicians and Scientific organizations who believe cannabis may have life saving healing properties and needs to be re-scheduled to allow more life saving medical research.
Just yesterday (last week) the DEA removed old AMA documentation from their web site recommending cannabis be kept Schedule 1 because of the dangers.
That point made, why is the Obama administration not taking their (AMA) recommendations since it would immediately soften the public's monetary tax burden.
You were obviously using the AMA's previous recommendations to support the prohibition of cannabis, so what's up Mr. President, how come you won't use it(AMA)now?
Thanks Grandma, interesting info. about the AMA. One thing the Obama administration has done is to break with the Bush administration on enforcement, announcing that it will not seek to prosecute users and suppliers of medical marijuana who are acting in compliance with the laws of their state.
As a California resident, I think that dispensaries need to follow the rules laid down for them, but patients know that this is an honor system. The money we pay keeps the lights on and gas in the tanks of those running the dispensaries. Those that abuse the donation system get boycotted. If rules need to be refined (which could be helpful, things are very foggy out here) then go ahead and refine them, but patients have a right to access medicine that helps them.
Why can't they just leave sick people alone? Is there really nothing more important for them to do?
@Wish4freedom -- the folks who want to crack down on the dispensaries (and you can now add L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, who says he wants to greatly reduce the number) say that the problem isn't sick people, it's well people who are buying pot for recreational purposes and dispensaries that are profiting off the sales to them. But some of the folks who want to crack down, many of whom are elected officials, are being accused of adopting a "get tough, law-and-order" posture mostly for political reasons. The sick people are more pawns than targets.
This is hogwash, everybody should be allowed to drive around stoned out of their gourd. They should allow drinking and driving also. Do away with the age limits for alcohol too.
Where is your sense of adventure, the challenge, the gamesmanship of trying to stay alive and avoid deranged drivers?
@Haddit - I get enough adventure with sober drivers who simply don't know how to drive thanks.
@Haddit -- your point is taken, although I don't think anyone has advocated that people who are under the influence of and impaired by medical marijuana should be behind the wheel. Under that logic, all alcoholic beverages should immediately be banned. The fact is that California law does allow the cultivation and use of medical marijuana, and what's being fought over is how it is being "sold." Driving impaired under the influence of drugs is and would still be illegal. See California Vehicle Code Section 23152.
They are not advocating giving it to children either, but children are getting it.
It may not be against state law but it is against federal law. The fact that Obama decided to look the other way does not make it legal.
This is insane, how can our judicial system just arbitrarily pick which laws to enforce and which people to enforce it on. We have laws, enforce them or change them.
Now these Pot Dispensaries, where do they get the pot? Is it true as Kevin James points out that it comes from the Mexican Cartels?
Cannabis prohibition is a damned miserable farce.
That why by Dec 31st 2011 All of us every on of us has set this dead line to leave L.A. County! To not buy houses cars even gas and to stay out of this county. We are the only one with real money theses days. Weare leaving L.A. and taken ALL OUR FUNDS WITHUS! see how long these broke cities last and how soon the people kill these so call leaders because the jobs are NOT coming back at all but they cut there tax base?? Well when we leave you will have NO ONE!! to sell gas food or you other usless stuff! Cant pay the cops when your city broke, cant pay nonthing? And when we get done with l.a. NO ONE WORLD WIDE WILL EVER WANT TO COME HERE.You can now count on one thing L.a. will be the first u.s. city to fall.
Haddit, you sound like another naive brain washed "in the box" person. You ask if the pot comes from Mexican Cartels. Well, I ask you this; If there is quasi legalisation now which has led to more of an open market, wouldnt that result in less "black market" business? And would not the black market be dominated more by Mexican Cartels? So is it not poignantly obvious that decreasing availability(supply) by shutting down dispensaries would lead to an increase in "black market" demand? Which would make Mexican Cartels very happy I'm sure. Does this Simple Logic evade you? Alchohol kills 100 thousand americans a year, 40 thousand by drunk driving. Marijuana hasn't killed anyone. How stupid are you people.
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
J.Lew, let the pot heads and cartels go after each other. I don't want impaired people driving and I don't think legaly sedating people is any good.
Sorry I didn't call you any names, it is not my style.
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