Science and Health
LA votes to close most marijuana clinics
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-27 16:19
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 Medical marijuana is displayed in Los Angeles in this August 6, 2007 file photo. [Agencies] |
LOS ANGELES: City officials voted on on Tuesday to shut down most of the hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that have opened in Los Angeles since the Obama administration halted federal raids on the clinics last year.
But the issue remained far from settled, as some dispensary advocates threatened to challenge the ordinance in court or seek to delay its enforcement by petitioning to have residents vote on the issue.
Other medical marijuana supporters vowed to work with the City Council to amend a measure they say goes too far.
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Villaraigosa intends to sign the measure, a spokeswoman said, adding, "This legislation isn't perfect, but the mayor feels it is a step in the right direction, and it's time to focus our attention on other pressing issues facing our city."
But opponents could block the ordinance from taking effect if they collect about 28,000 voter signatures in favor of a referendum within 30 days. They also plan to present voters with a less restrictive alternative on the ballot.
Tuesday's ordinance ultimately would cap the number of licensed dispensaries at 70, but temporarily allow more than twice that number to remain open -- specifically those that registered before a moratorium took effect in 2007.
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 Handcuffed suspect Gerald Ware (L) looks on while Kalamazoo police officer Matt Elzinga catalogs evidence as police officers execute a search warrant for marijuana during a raid in search of illegal drugs in Ware's Kalamazoo, Michigan, in this November 12, 2009 file picture. [Agencies] |
It also would require marijuana clinics to be at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) from schools, public parks, libraries or churches. And it would bar pot shops from being located next door to, across the street, or across an alley from homes.
Those restrictions, said Dan Duncan of Americans for Safe Access, "make it virtually impossible to find a suitable property" for dispensaries to operate in Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest city.
Recreation VS. Medical Use
Roughly 1,000 dispensaries have opened in the city under a 1996 California law that decriminalized cannabis for medical use -- the first US state to do so -- and a 2003 ballot measure that allowed pot to be cultivated and distributed to prescription-holding patients through nonprofit collectives.
But some municipal officials and residents complained that things have gotten out of control, with many pot shops operating as commercial businesses that cater as much to recreational drug users as to cancer patients.
"They want to use marijuana when they want, where they want. They couldn't care less about the communities, the impact on neighborhoods," Councilman Dennis Zine said. "They just want to use marijuana to get high. ... We want it strictly for medical purposes."
In 2007, the city imposed a temporary moratorium on dispensaries, but hundreds more have gone into business since then. The bulk of those opened last year after US President Barack Obama reversed a Bush administration policy and ended federal raids on dispensaries in states where medical marijuana had been legalized.
Fourteen states, including California, have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medical uses, Duncan said.
Besides capping the number of dispensaries in Los Angeles, the new ordinance imposes new restrictions on them.
It limits hours of operations to between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., imposes stringent security measures and requires them to operate as nonprofit collectives, with each patient limited to having cannabis prescriptions filled from just one dispensary.
