An ordinance that would ban marijuana dispensaries from operating in
Los Angeles could be put on hold and possibly left to voters to decide,
if a petition on its way to the city clerk is ruled valid.
The petition, comprised of about 50,000 signatures, was submitted to
the Los Angeles City Clerk’s Office Thursday and calls for a referendum
next March on the new ordinance banning storefront dispensaries
effective Sept. 6. But the petition’s immediate effect would be to
prevent the ordinance from even going into effect.
Activists who sponsored the petition drive formally announced their
plans at a Wednesday morning press conference at the Universal Sheraton
in Universal City.
The City Council voted last month to ban the dispensaries, citing
conflicting court opinions about whether the city can legally regulate
cannabis collectives. While banning storefront dispensaries, the city
will allow licensed patients or caregivers to grow and transport their
own medical marijuana, under the ordinance.
After the vote, the City Attorney’s Office sent letters to 1,046
suspected dispensary locations warning them to shut down by Sept. 6 or
face court action and a $2,500 fine for every day they remain open past
the deadline. Medical marijuana supporters quickly mounted a
signature-gathering effort in hopes of forcing a referendum on the
issue.
A minimum of 27,425 signatures is required to get the issue on the
ballot, according to petition-drive organizers, who say they’ve
collected around twice that many. Once the petition is submitted, the
City Clerk’s office will verify the signatures against voter
registration information.
If the petition is determined to pass muster, the City Council would
have 20 days to either repeal the ordinance or leave the decision up to
voters in next year’s municipal election on March 5, said Kimberly
Briggs, media specialist with the city clerk’s election divsion.
"Legally, we have 15 days to verify the signatures on the petition," Briggs said.
Councilman Jose Huizar, who champions the ban, said the submission of
signatures does not necessarily mean storefront medical marijuana shops
will be spared legal action, even though the ordinance that provides
for the storefront ban would be put on hold.
According to Huizar, filing petition signatures means the city’s
"Sunset Clause” will kick in, "which outlaws storefront dispensaries
and only allows, per state law, for a qualified patient or their
caregiver to grow their own or collectives consisting of three or fewer
qualified patients or their caregivers.”
Officials in the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have
advanced similar opinions about the city’s options, but medical
marijuana advocates disagree.
"State law is clear — selling medical marijuana for profit is
illegal,” Huizar said. The referendum effort "does not change that and
doesn’t protect dispensary owners from prosecution if they engage in
illegal activity.”
If placed on the ballot next March, the referendum on the ban will
take place at the same time as Angelenos elect a new mayor. Medical
marijuana activists say, however, that they hope the Council revisits
the idea of a total ban, in which case no referendum will be necessary.
"We want a strict regulatory system in place to ensure safe access
for patients and a nuisance-free process for neighborhoods,” referendum
proponent Norma Schaffer said. "This one-size-fits-all ban not only
hurts patients, but it eliminates dispensaries playing by the rules
while doing little to shut down rogue dispensaries.
"We need good policy, not knee-jerk bans that make the problem
worse,” she said. "We’re confident the voters of Los Angeles will agree
with us.”
A number of pro-medical marijuana organizations and medical marijuana
users with various illnesses gathered at the Universal Sheraton on
Wednedsay to announce the intention of seeking a referendum.
Rick Icaza, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local
770, which represents dispensary workers from about 40 storefronts,
spoke in favor of drafting a more lenient ordinance.
"This referendum will give the city an opportunity to have a real
discussion about compassionate use, one outside the narrow halls of
politics and politicians," he said. "We disagree that the best way to
respond to the neighborhood concerns with certain dispensaries was to
ban them all outright. We are seeking a compromise solution."
One of the patients to speak was Linda Leek, who said she has used
marijuana for four years to help her deal with thyroid myalgia. She said
the few exceptions outlined in the new ordinance would make it harder
to obtain cannabis.
Under the new policy, primary caregivers to grow and transport
medical marijuana. In addition, two or three patients would be able to
collectively grow and share medical marijuana in their homes, but not
storefronts.
"I can’t grow it on my own," Leek said. "I can’t afford to grow it
on my own. I would not know the knowledge to grow it on my own."
Don Duncan, director of Americans for Safe Access, said he views
regulation as the best alternative to banning medical marijuana
dispensaries.
He said one approach would be to carefully plan the location of such
storefronts so that they are not allowed to operate near churches,
schools and parks.
Duncan said if better regulation means shutting down some marijuana
shops to keep others open at more appropriate locations, it would be
worth it.
"We know when we call for regulations that not everyone is going to
meet the standard and be able to operate under those regulations," he
said. "And that may be an acceptable outcome so long as we preserve
some access for patients."
On Aug. 17, a medical marijuana trade group called the Patient Care
Alliance filed a lawsuit in hopes of blocking the marijuana ban, calling
it a "reckless, baseless and heartless act of denial of necessary
medical services.”
One of the champions of the ban, Councilman Jose Huizar, said after
the council’s vote in July that the city’s action still provides safe
access to marijuana for patients who need it, but also puts the city on
solid legal footing and alleviates quality-of-life issues that
constituents complain about.
"Relief is coming in the form of having a more focused and intense
crackdown on these dispensaries that cause problems in our
neighborhoods,” Huizar said.
Councilman Paul Koretz, an ally of the medical marijuana community,
advocates allowing 100 or so of the city’s oldest dispensaries to remain
open.
