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Attorney Moves To Shut Down Illegal Dispensaries
Posted by CN Staff on October 12, 2013 at 06:20:59 PT
By Catherine Saillant
Source: Los Angeles Times 
Los Angeles -- A fresh effort to close down illegal medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles is underway, this time led by new City Atty. Mike Feuer.The city's legal team has moved to shut down 38 pot shops operating outside the mandates of voter-approved Measure D, Feuer told reporters at a Friday press gathering. The ordinance, approved in May by 63% of voters, calls for a sharply reduced number of pot shops, and taxes those found to be operating legally.
Feuer said an additional 42 dispensaries have closed on their own since Measure D took effect in July. That's a small portion of the roughly 850 dispensaries believed to be operating illegally. Measure D only allows the 134 that opened before a moratorium was attempted in 2007.But the city attorney pledged that his office will be filing new prosecutions every week. In office since July 1, Feuer said the actions mark a "new day" for medicinal marijuana regulation in Los Angeles."We're going to see a major difference in the way that operators and property owners perceive the city," he said. "They are going to accurately perceive us as moving effectively and systematically to assure that the will of the voters is, in fact, effectuated."Under Measure D, pot shop operators and landlords leasing them space are both subject to prosecution if they don't meet the law's requirements. Dozens of shops shut down on their own after Feuer's office sent out letters informing dispensaries of the new rules.Property owners face the same penalties as the operators: For every misdemeanor count, they face up to $1,000 in penalties and six months in jail. No operators or landlords have been jailed or required to pay fines yet, although one owner reached a plea agreement with the city, Feuer said.More than 100 pot outlets that meet the voter-approved criteria for continuing to operate won't be prosecuted, Feuer said. But if they are within 600 feet of a park, a school or a child-care facility, they will have to move, he said.State and local laws regulating dispensaries conflict with the U.S. Justice Department's stance that marijuana is an illegal drug that cannot be sold, even for medicinal purposes. Feuer said his office has "been in contact" with federal authorities but declined to say if any coordination is taking place between the agencies.Feuer said city lawyers are attempting to provide the balance intended by Measure D, which sought to ensure access to medical marijuana for chronically ill patients but reverse what had become a proliferation of shops.City officials have spent years struggling to regulate medical marijuana without restricting access to those who need it. Despite the moratorium imposed in 2007, shops continued to open. Subsequent attempts to set a cap on the number of shops and then ban them altogether failed.Dispensary operators fought back with lawsuits and their own unsuccessful voter measures.Measure D helped clarify the debate, the city attorney said, setting standards for legal operations. Thus far, the city prosecutions haven't been challenged legally, he said.David Welch, an attorney representing several dispensary operators, said his clients have filed lawsuits in federal court challenging portions of the city law. But they have not yet been served on the city, he said."We want those dispensaries to be recognized as meeting the requirements of Measure D," Welch said.Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author:    Catherine SaillantPublished: October 11, 2013Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/a5frGdtsCannabisNews  Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by HempWorld on October 12, 2013 at 18:22:52 PT
Prohibition is dead! Long live legalization!
Article, please read if you have time and make a comment below the article if you have time and are so inclined, that would really help us out, thanks so much, blessed be and have a great Saturday night and Sunday.
Check This Out! Please make comments if you can!
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Comment #3 posted by mexweed on October 12, 2013 at 14:01:14 PT:
On Board for Neighborhood Industrees 
While I would prefer to see smaller dispensaries in more neighborhoods, that may have to wait till the voters are less suspicious, meanwhile  museman has provoked me to issue a positivist manifesto-- let's define things in terms of what we have to do. 1. The on-line info revolution running its course now will eventually eliminate sit-and-watch television "entertainment", a majority will be obesity-prevention and H-ot B-urning O-verdose M-onoxide "smoking"-prevention literate and used to doing something active, eyes on hands while listening to Brahms on radio. 2. For example, a PICTORIAL guide will be posted showing how to make, use, clean, repair a screened one-hitter, creating Single Toke Utensil handworker jobs in every neighborhood at the cost of centralized Philip Morris and the machine-rolled $igarette. (This requires SCANNING + on-line computer, I'm just learning about it now. New scanned fotos and hand=drawn pics will replace the somewhat inaccurate "typewriter-compliant" diagrams presently on wikiHow.com, "12 Ways to Make Smoke (sic) Pipes from Everyday Objects" and other articles.) 3. Cannabis will so re-train the attention-dynamics of masses of workers that they learn to salvage and repair used things-- reducing the unjustified tree-killing that today provides materials for "eco-scab" replacements for things wrongly thrown away. (Not to mention 40% food waste, cannabis helps smart persons enjoy interesting bits of old food.)4. One reason municipalities-- through their legal arm in this case-- are prone to sabotage the Creative Reuse industry is that they are addicted to the SALES TAX revenues they get from unnecessary buying of new stuff. They may fear cannabis could teach a neighborhood-based alternative, persons of every age actually working with their hands instead of sitting watching something, and the corporate new product sales plummeting along with the City's TAX take!  They must be taught to understand the Conflict of Interest involved there, and get on board doing the best for the planet.5. Obama in this year's State of the Union said, "For the sake of our children and our future... I urge Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change." Interpretation of "market based"-- cannabinoid-inspired workers put reused-materials products on market, DISPLACING killed-tree ones, grow the forest, trees eat CO2, prevent global warming.6. From now on, we can try to figure out how the system malfunctions, draw attention to it as with this comment, and remind politicians to encourage moderate cannabis use by users who then contribute services to the community which are missing now.
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Comment #2 posted by museman on October 12, 2013 at 12:55:44 PT
HempWorld
'Well, it has to be done. Cal and Ore will most probably do it in '14.But no one should be thinking that this war is over. As you and others have put it quite succinctly in the past; "Rocky" will not allow it." - until we have reached out and wrenched it out of their cold, dead hands, and then refuse to give it back.All those battles in the streets are not over yet. And I do believe whole heartedly that every effort towards truth and freedom is a stepping stone that cannot be removed easily. But, as you well know, the majority of people are convinced of the value of mammon over the real values that Rocky does not want the people to make a connection with. Rocky controls those systems, and when one gets to the realization, they also realize that those systems are so mucked up and corrupt, we really, really don't want to carry them much farther into the century. We really need to end most of those systems permanently.I can foresee an event, or series events that leads to the very real possibility of a new country, separate from the Amerikan Empire, on the west coast. When the radiation has run its course and wiped out those of us with compromised immune systems, people will begin to truly realize where the fault and blame lies, and that continuing to support such global rape and pillage is just not going to lead us anywhere except down to destruction.If enough of the consciousness that is increasing in numbers here in the west survives this un-natural situation, caused by the elite greed and callousness, then I predict we will throw out the corruption in favor of a truly democratic for of government -by consensus, and establish the State of Jefferson.Or we can all go down on the Titanic which is amerikan culture. The ship is sinking. Hopefully all the rats will stay on board.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on October 12, 2013 at 07:41:09 PT
Jawohl Herr Feuer! Mach Ich Sofort!
Feuer is a German word and it means: Fire!So fire is putting out the dispensaries!I am afraid that Mr. Fire is re-arranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic as soon as he heard the ship was taking on water!In 2014 California will legalize Cannabis and Hemp (with CCHI) and everything will be completely different again.But hey, as I always said, prohibition has always met its goals; racism and a giant make-work program, we are from the gov't and we are here to help!
Hemp Magazine read about CCHI!
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