A city initiative that would apparently allow
continued operation of about 100 medical marijuana shops in Los Angeles
is significantly closer to enactment, the city clerk disclosed today.

City Clerk June Lagmay determined through a sampling process that
backers of the initiative to allow and regulate a certain number of
storefront medical marijuana shops have gathered the necessary 41,138
signatures.

Two initiatives that would regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in
the city of Los Angeles are headed for the City Council and, possibly,
the ballot.

The L.A. City Clerk’s office today said both the initiatives have
collected enough valid signatures to warrant a vote by the City Council,
which must either approve them or send them to voters, likely in May.

One of the two initiatives would close down most of L.A.’s pot shops:

The office said the Committee to Protect Patients and Neighborhoods’
initiative, which would put most of L.A.’s 1,000 or so shops out of
business save for the 180 or so that were established before October of
2007, meet or beat the requirement to turn in 41,138 signatures.

That one is supported by Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance,
Americans for Safe Access-LA and UFCW Local 770. It would reward the
old-school shops while shutting down most if not all of the newer ones.

The "Medical Marijuana Collectives Initiative Ordinance" also beat
the same signature requirement, the City Clerk’s office announced today.

It would essentially allow dispensaries to stay open so long as they abide by certain rules,
including staying away from schools and parks, hiring licensed
security, having operators undergo background checks, and maintaining
certain hours.

That initiative would also establish city permits for pot shops.

So why are the dispensaries trying to regulate themselves? In hopes
of avoiding another City Hall debacle like the one in October in which
the council overreached and tried to shut down all pot shops only to be rebuffed by a referendum.

Marijuana retailers fear the council will try again. So instead of
leaving it up to City Hall, they want to take pot shop regulation
straight to voters.

In each initiative’s case, the council can approve the proposed law,
call a special election, or put the matter before voters during the next
regularly scheduled election.

Given that these two have opposing qualities, it seems that they would be headed for the May 21 ballot. But we’ll see.

I attended a progressive event with MPP’s Morgan Fox in D.C. last Tuesday, where Congressmen John Conyers (D-MI) and Barney Frank (D-MA) both spoke.

Unsolicited — in front of the 60 or 70 activists and opinion leaders in attendance — Rep. Conyers made an off-handed criticism of the drug war, which was nice to hear.

And Rep. Frank spent most of his time at the microphone talking about the marriage-equality victories on November 6 in four states, saying a few times that the gay-rights community “must press our advantage.”

In other words, if the political momentum is on your side, you should use that momentum.

After their remarks, I chatted with Rep. Frank one-on-one.  (This would surely be the last time I speak to him before he retires from the U.S. House in January.)  After congratulating me on our wins in Colorado and Washington on November 6, he said to me, “We must press our advantage.”

In fact, that’s what we’re going to do with a new slate of ballot initiatives for November 2016, as well as congressional legislation to allow states to determine their own marijuana policies without federal interference.

I want to thank Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul (R-TX) for their service in the U.S. House; both men are retiring on the same day, as it turns out.  They’ve made a wonderful contribution to the marijuana-policy-reform movement through their legislative leadership over the last three decades.

The number of states that allow medical marijuana use has more than
doubled since 2005, but while health insurance does not cover medical
use of the drug, some property-casualty insurers are tapping into the
growing niche market.

California became the first state, in 1996,
to approve marijuana

A coalition of organizations that deal with marijuana policy reform have come together to push the Legislature to address the issue of medical marijuana in the upcoming 2013 Legislative Session.

The new coalition, the Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform & Education Project (Georgia CARE Project), held a press conference at the State Capitol on Monday, December 17, 2012.

According to a press release obtained by Atlanta Progressive News, the Georgia CARE Project is a project of the Georgia Taxpayers Alliance (GTA).

James Bell, 53, both of the GTA and the Project, tells APN he had been involved in the marijuana legalization movement since 1986 as then-Director of the Georgia Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).  Bell says he is turning to the issue after turning his focus to property tax issues for the last ten years.