cannabisnews.com: LA City Council Votes To Ban Marijuana Shops
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LA City Council Votes To Ban Marijuana Shops
Posted by CN Staff on July 24, 2012 at 15:56:16 PT
By Greg Risling
Source: Huffington Post
California -- The Los Angeles City Council has voted to ban hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that have cropped up across the city. The council on Tuesday voted to rid the nation's second-largest city of pot clinics that some residents say have been a blight on neighborhoods. City officials estimate there could be more than 900 collectives open currently. Many cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles, where pot shops have proliferated. At one point, the city ordered closure of the shops – a process that failed amid lawsuits and conflicting rulings by appellate courts.
The so-called "gentle ban" eliminates storefronts but allow patients and caregivers to grow medical marijuana. Unable to rein in the hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that have cropped up across the nation's second largest city, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday considered a proposal to ban pot shops outright until it has clearer guidance from the state's highest court. The city has fumbled with its medical marijuana laws for years, trying to provide safe and affordable access to the drug for legitimate patients while addressing worries by neighborhood groups that streets were being overrun by dispensaries and pot users.Many cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles, where pot shops have proliferated. At one point, the city ordered closure of the shops – a process that failed amid lawsuits and conflicting rulings by appellate courts. Medical marijuana advocates and residents squared off again in front of the council on Tuesday, with some civic leaders saying efforts made during the past few years haven't done any good. "We need to start with a clean slate," said Councilman Mitchell Englander. "Los Angeles has experimented with marijuana and has failed." The proposed ban comes during a confusing time for Californians despite voter approval in 1996 for medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. The state Supreme Court has decided to clarify marijuana's hazy legal status by addressing whether local governments can ban medical marijuana clinics. But a hearing has yet to be set by the high court. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities have cracked down on pot clinics around the state, saying such operations remain illegal under federal law. The so-called "gentle ban" being proposed would eliminate storefronts but allow patients and caregivers to grow medical marijuana. Another plan being considered by the council would grant 100 pot clinics limited immunity under special restrictions involving where the shops can operate. Los Angeles passed an ordinance two years ago that was supposed to shutter hundreds of pot dispensaries while capping the number in operation at 70. But a set of legal challenges against the city by collectives and last month's expiration of the ordinance thanks to a sundowner clause led to another surge of pot shops. City officials said 762 collectives have registered with the city and as many as 200 more could exist. At least 178 California cities from Calistoga to Camarillo and 20 counties already have banned retail pot shops, according to the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. However, reflecting the murky language of the state's medical marijuana laws, a handful of dispensaries have successfully challenged such local prohibitions in court along with laws that merely sought to regulate dispensaries. Most recently, an appeals court in Southern California struck down Los Angeles County's two-year-old ban on dispensaries, ruling that state law allows cooperatives and collectives to grow, store and distribute pot. But in a separate case, an appeals court said federal law preempts local municipalities from allowing pot clinics. Some Los Angeles leaders said they will continue to be in a holding pattern until the state Supreme Court issues a ruling. "It's like a symphony that's out of tune," said Councilman Tom LaBonge of the council's efforts. "We need structure." The hearing came a day after a priest, drug counselors and others decried crime and other social problems they say surround neighborhood marijuana dispensaries. Among those who spoke at that gathering was a woman who complained about having to push her baby's stroller through clouds of marijuana smoke near dispensaries in her East Hollywood neighborhood. Lisa Sarkin, 60, who lives in the San Fernando Valley, says there are 12 dispensaries within three miles of each other. Sarkin, who sits on a neighborhood council, said kids often walk past dispensaries on the way to school and some business owners who are near pot shops have complained of the strong scent of marijuana that wafts into their buildings. Medical marijuana advocates and residents agree that access for the sick is vitally important and there are many dispensaries that are cash cows. How to strike a balance has been a challenge for many municipalities that don't have bans. "We want legal access but this is the wild, wild West," said Sarkin, adding she supports the legalization of marijuana. "What's a collective with thousands of people in it? What is that?" Daniel Sosa, a medical marijuana advocate, told council members it's fruitless to approve a ban that won't have any merit and will likely lead to more lawsuits. "If you can't enforce it, why are you going to pass something?" Sosa asked the council.Source: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Greg RislingPublished: July 24, 2012Copyright: 2012 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/QCkrUzwmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by afterburner on October 03, 2012 at 04:08:09 PT
Time the Retire this Failed Policy
•Federal Cannabis Prohibition Turns 75-Years-Old Today
by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
October 1, 2012
http://blog.norml.org/2012/10/01/federal-cannabis-prohibition-turns-75-years-old-today/
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #11 posted by FoM on October 02, 2012 at 15:48:55 PT
LA Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ban Repealed
LA Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ban Repealed By City Council Vote October 2, 2012URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/la-medical-marijuana-dispensary-ban-repealed_n_1933680.html
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by runruff on July 27, 2012 at 09:47:03 PT
Good old quote.
"If expoloring ones own coscienence thruogh the use of mind expanding drugs is not a part of the guarantee of our persuit of happiness, the Contitution isn't worth the hemp paper it is printed on".-Terrance Mackenna
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by Hope on July 26, 2012 at 11:48:18 PT
Afterburner
:0)So glad I was a bit of help!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by afterburner on July 25, 2012 at 22:34:15 PT
Hope #7
Thanks for the link. Could President Obama possibly be as misinformed as the lady that commented that there is no Constiutional right to get high? This bull is absolutely against all the scientific evidence that medical cannabis is effective for many disease syndromes. Anybody who suggests that patients just want to get high is a prohibitionist liar or enabler. I know personally patients who have gotten this type of abuse from law enforcement, even in Canada where medical cannabis IS federally legal for a few selected patients.I followed the link to the Save Harborside Rally and found more links to Weed Wars. Finally, I get to watch these shows!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #7 posted by Hope on July 25, 2012 at 19:26:37 PT
This article isn't very interesting....
but the comments are.Tammerlin Drummond: A case of misplaced prioritieshttp://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/ci_21123307/tammerlin-drummond-case-misplaced-priorities
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by Hope on July 25, 2012 at 19:24:48 PT
Afterburner
And I know it is an important anti-inflammatory. Any kind of inflammation, whether it's caused by injury or disease is cooled by cannabinoids or cannabinol... a part of cannabis, the cannabis plant. It does help prevent brain damage and swelling and inflammation in traumatic brain injuries and when they cut plugs out of frog's feet to "inflame" them and treated them with either parts of or the entire cannabis plant. It's an astounding anti-inflammatory. We know how it helps people with MS. We know it can help people with Alzheimer's. We know it helps seizures. We know it helps painful mental situations.It's able to fight serious germs for some reason. Didn't they connect it with the possibility of whipping that terrible, terrible, deadly hospital virus or bacteria? I can't recall it's name right now. It's been thought to help with certain kinds of serious bad tumors when nothing else helped. It's been proven to cause cancer apoptosis. That is such a good, remarkable thing.It's an expectorant. It's an anti-spasmodic. It's an analgesic. It lowers blood pressure. It has food nourishment value. I was thankful for so many years that I had only ever used cannabis for enjoyment. But for some people it's about a lot more than enjoyment. It's about living. Surviving. Enduring. Rising up, perhaps to joy, in spirit, if possible.We know the plant itself is literally good for the soil, and somehow cleans it of bad things, and it probably does something wonderful for the air, in spite of it's unpleasant odor to some people.We can weave fabric and make heavy duty sails, tents, tarps, and walls of it.Why would people, any people, want to keep it away from the people of the world? Why?What is wrong with it? Why is it so hideously horrible that people would spy on and turn in their neighbors to the government over it?Why are so many people being so self righteous and dangerous to the people that do make use of the cannabis plant?I think someone needs to explain why it's important enough to harm and lock up other people over?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by afterburner on July 25, 2012 at 12:44:01 PT
Hope #4
Related?:DRUGS.
AlterNet / By Clint Werner.
36 COMMENTS.
How Weed Can Protect Us From Cancer and Alzheimer's.
Hardly the harmful intoxicant that many once thought it was, cannabis is a nourishing plant that actually improves and prolongs life.
July 19, 2012 | The following is an excerpt from MARIJUANA: GATEWAY TO HEALTH—How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Photo:
Photo Credit: Pablo Evans
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/156269/How_Weed_Can_Protect_Us_From_Cancer_and_Alzheimer%27s/?page=entire
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by Hope on July 25, 2012 at 11:58:41 PT
:0) Thanks, Afterburner.
New 'one-size-fits-all' drug could treat Alzheimer's, MS and brain injuryRead more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/25/new-one-size-fits-all-drug-could-treat-alzheimer-ms-and-brain-injury/?intcmp=trending#ixzz21f7Vn2ygSomething about this makes me think it's got some kind of connection to being an artificial cannabinoid or something like it.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by afterburner on July 25, 2012 at 09:21:57 PT
Good morning, Hope!
Here's some chemo-brain fog melting music. Feel free to jump and shout!Black Oak Arkansas - California Jam 1974 - Full Video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQrsgvTCvc4&feature=related Have a great day!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #2 posted by Hope on July 25, 2012 at 07:46:57 PT
Today is going to be a good day.
Believe it!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on July 24, 2012 at 16:33:39 PT
"strong scent of marijuana"
Aw, I can't stand it. (because it is not politically correct)But, how about, the smell of cigarettes...Do you like that?38,000 people are dead every year in the USA from 2nd hand cigarette smoke.Yet no-one has ever died from even direct marijuana smoke...How easy for city council to follow the DEA, but it won't be that easy...
[ Post Comment ]
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