cannabisnews.com: LA Set To Approve Medical Marijuana Ordinance
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LA Set To Approve Medical Marijuana Ordinance
Posted by CN Staff on January 26, 2010 at 06:16:54 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press
Los Angeles --  For the past five years, medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles have multiplied and gone largely unregulated as city officials struggled to adopt a law that would put clamps on a flourishing industry. Not anymore. With the expected passage of a medical marijuana ordinance by the City Council on Tuesday, hundreds of dispensaries would have to close their doors, putting an end to the so-called "Green Rush" that swept through Los Angeles and much of the state.
Enforcing the ordinance, however, may take a Herculean effort by a cash-strapped city. No one is exactly sure how many pot clinics there are in Los Angeles -- the best estimate is somewhere between 800 and 1,000 -- and getting the owners to comply with the ordinance will likely be met with resistance. "I don't want to say this is an impossible task, but it's going to take a lot more effort than maybe the city realizes at this point," said Robert Mikos, a law professor specializing in federalism and crime policy at Vanderbilt University Law School. "Just because the city says 'stop what you are doing,' doesn't mean they (dispensary owners) are going to give up easily." One possible option for dispensaries is to seek an injunction that would stop the city from enforcing its ordinance. City officials could take similar action against unwilling pot clinics. The ordinance would cap the number of dispensaries at 70, spreading them evenly throughout the city via its community districting plan. For instance, the Wilshire area west of downtown would have the most pot clinics -- six -- under the new law, while places such as free-spirited Venice, which has as many as 17 currently, would only have one. City officials also would require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from "sensitive uses" such as schools, parks and other gathering sites. Most clinics would have to relocate, presumably to industrial areas, a move criticized by some medical marijuana advocates who say patients will have to travel long distances to get their medicine. The ordinance wouldn't take effect until city officials determine the registration fees collectives would have to pay. The city attorney's office estimates that enforcement won't take place for at least 45 days. The number of clinics has exploded -- more than 600 over the past 10 months alone -- despite a 2007 city moratorium prohibiting new medical marijuana dispensaries. The shop owners took advantage of a loophole known as a hardship exemption that allowed them to open while awaiting city approval. However, more than 180 clinics qualified to remain open because they came before the ban was enacted. About 137 of those dispensaries still exist and would be allowed to remain open if they meet other requirements in the new ordinance. City council members have fumbled with an ordinance for years, trying to come up with language that jibes with state law. Only four dispensaries were open in 2005, when discussions first began. The outlook for medical marijuana in Los Angeles remains hazy. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley has said he will target pot clinics that profit and sell to people who don't qualify for medical marijuana. While the ordinance says no collective can operate for profit, "cash and in-kind contributions" as well as "reasonable compensation" would be allowed. The ordinance, if passed by the council and signed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, follows a recent California Supreme Court decision that struck down a law seeking to impose limits on the amount of marijuana a patient can have. It also comes months before a possible ballot measure seeking the legalization of marijuana in the Golden State. Fourteen states, including California, permit medical marijuana. Pot, however, remains illegal under federal law.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Associated PressCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on January 26, 2010 at 18:55:57 PT
I suspect you're very right, Kaptinemo.
"It becomes very obvious which deity many of the Elite actually worship...but they've been smelling brimstone and sweating buckets from the heat while prostrating before his altar for so long they think it's normal..."
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Comment #17 posted by kaptinemo on January 26, 2010 at 15:57:18 PT:
It depends upon whose Savior, I guess
The Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus: http://tinyurl.com/nmzbSocial Darwinism: http://tinyurl.com/qqqzm (especially read the part some purportedly Christian sects played in this)The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power http://tinyurl.com/yd2jqv5It becomes very obvious which deity many of the Elite actually worship...but they've been smelling brimstone and sweating buckets from the heat while prostrating before his altar for so long they think it's normal... 
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 15:54:49 PT
charmed quark
That was very well said. Thank you.
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Comment #15 posted by charmed quark on January 26, 2010 at 15:37:45 PT
going poor
You can have a good job, have your house paid off and enough money saved up for retirement. Then if you get sick it can all be gone in a year.I've read about enough situations like that in our local paper.I think a lot of "fundamentalists" who hate helping the poor think it can never happen to them because God is on their side. I guess they never read the Book of Job in the Bible.
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 12:32:54 PT
Sam
I agree.
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 12:22:42 PT
Hope
I know not all Republicans but most of those I know think that way. Survival of the fittest.
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Comment #12 posted by Sam Adams on January 26, 2010 at 11:44:51 PT
attitude
I heard some old Rastaman put it this way "When you see your brother is down, you extend your arm to help him up. You don't step on him"I think that pretty much sums up my philosophy.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on January 26, 2010 at 11:26:40 PT
That attitude of many who profess
to be Republicans, by the way, is not the way my husband feels about the situation of the poor. He knows how easily poor can happen. He's been poor. Really poor. He realizes everyone is just a catastrophe away from being destitute, even if they're not and they're working hard all the time.Those Republicans who do feel that way about some people don't care what Jesus might or might not think when it comes to their attitude towards the poor. They just think, if he's of the attitude we think he is, then he's just a foolish, patsy "Bleeding heart", like they think we are. They're only in it... the Christian religion... for the "safety net"... anyway. Just in case. They could care less about what the man was trying to teach us.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 10:46:36 PT
AP: LA Council OKs Plan To Close Most Pot Clinics
By Greg Risling,  Associated Press January 26, 2010LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council has approved an ordinance that will close hundreds of pot dispensaries that have cropped up in recent years.The 9-3 vote on Tuesday ends months of debate on how to curb the so-called “Green Rush” that has swept through much of California.The ordinance will cap the number of medical marijuana clinics at 70. It also requires dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks and other public gathering spots.Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa must approve the ordinance for it to take effect.The number of pot dispensaries has gone from four to as many as 1,000 over the past five years as the council struggled to adopt an ordinance.City officials believe it will be at least 45 days before they can enforce the ordinance.Copyright: 2010 The Associated PressURL: http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100126/NEWS/100129670/1070
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 10:38:25 PT
Hope
I honestly wonder what Jesus would say on that attitude. So many people that can't stand the poor profess fundamentalism as the only way. I wish religion wasn't a part of politics but Republicans have made it that it is.
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Comment #8 posted by Sam Adams on January 26, 2010 at 10:28:32 PT
republicans
of course they're against socialism, but what goes unsaid is that the LOVE militarism! They're more than happy to support taking hard-working peoples' tax money and give it to defense contractors and others for military adventurism overseas.Military bases in over 100 countries? That's the biggest "socialism" I've ever seen? Who's paying the bill for those adventures?The Repubs were totally silent as Bush/Cheney - in their first term alone - grew the federal govt. more than any president since LBJ. Military spending went from $300 billion per year to $800 billion.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on January 26, 2010 at 10:24:56 PT
Also...
"They made their choices. Now they're poor and they want an X-Box and they want me to pay for it, and feed and clothe them so they can lay around the house, that I subsidize, and play, and eat, and drink, and do nothing to support themselves and their families."
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on January 26, 2010 at 10:21:06 PT
Oh yes...
I've heard it so many times, "Hope. It's about choices. They made their choices. The wrong ones. Now they're poor. Why should I have to pay for their poor choices. I made good choices, that involved doing things that weren't easy. They chose the easy way. Not getting an education was easier than getting one. Not finding work is easier than working. They made their choices. They made choices. They had choices. They chose the easy, do nothing way and now they're poor. They actually chose to be poor and for their children to be poor. Now you're saying I should pay for that?"They also say that poor people actually choose to have more children so they can get more money from the state for the support and care of the child. 
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on January 26, 2010 at 10:00:38 PT
Comment 1
They see themselves working twelve and eighteen hours a day and part of their income is being given to people who could work and earn money, but don't and won't. Instead they lay around, drink, do drugs, watch TV, play video games and feed and clothe themselves with the money the Republican earns but was robbed of by the government. They think that people drawing income from the government and not working are crafty lazy con people... stealing the very sustenance and fruits of success of people who work diligently, as a way to avoid doing any thing resembling work, because they are lazy, and they like it, and they like the idea of taking from the "stupid" working idiot...that they actually look down on and despise as idiots... laughing all the way to the liquor store, puffing on their expensive cigs, not worrying at all that their children might be doing without because of their choices. They're not worried, according to that mindset, because they know the State will will feed their children.There are some people that take advantage of the system to finance their irresponsibility. No doubt. But there are people in need that cannot help themselves and find themselves in a mess, and they have paid into the system to create a safety net for themselves and others, and sometimes they need to make use of that net. Some Republicans paint even the truly poor that work and do their best with that broad brush. First they think, if there is one doing that... there must be hundreds... then if there are hundreds... it must be all of them. Simple math sort of thing.It's a sad, bad mess and it's not going to end anytime soon.
Some really don't care... at all, except the part about, "Keep your hands out of my pile". They really don't care. Their reasoning is that any suffering of the poor is because they won't get off their butts and work.We'll always have the poor and we'll always have the people who despise them and blame them. Thankfully, we'll always have the people, some, that care about it all, too.
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Comment #4 posted by ripit on January 26, 2010 at 09:52:31 PT
just where did they come up with..
the #70?who picked this # and why?do they explain anywhere why and how they pick it instead of say 700 or 3 or 420?and since the 180 that were in place before how would they chose who to close and who remains if every body is in compliance?can we say stupid foolish greased doorknobs! jmho!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 09:06:44 PT
Sam
If they don't have a heart then they can do anything they want to us and that is scary.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on January 26, 2010 at 08:34:38 PT
Slimming down
Imagine if we could take Congress and trim it from several hundred bloated cows down to just 70 of them......but government never gets smaller, only businessmen and entrepenuers get wiped out in the middle of a recession.I wish the dispensaries good luck in court! may the Force be with your attorneys...FOM yes Republicans are mean. I saw a guy carrying a sign that said "what's mine is mine, NOT yours....no socialism!" I thought yeah until he hits 65 and then suddenly the younger generations' cash is paying his medical bills.perhaps these Republicans could protest evil socialism by refusing to accept Medicare coverage after 65? 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 26, 2010 at 06:25:46 PT
Off Topic: Why Do Republicans Dislike Poor People?
Excerpt: Lawmakers knew if they removed Sanford, they would end up with Bauer, a fiercely ambitious Republican with a reputation for reckless and immature behavior.Now Bauer has folks shaking their heads again, after he likened government assistance to the poor to feeding stray animals.At a town hall meeting Thursday, Bauer, who is running for governor in his own right now that Sanford is term-limited, said: "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that."URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lt_gov_don_t_help_the_poor
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