BREAKING: Los Angeles sued over new medical marijuana law
A lawsuit filed Tuesday challenges Los Angeles' crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, claiming it would force nearly all of them to close.
The suit by the nation's largest medical marijuana advocacy group accuses the city of violating the state constitutional rights of pot clinic operators and claims the city ordinance "deprives the seriously ill of the medicine promised them by the electorate and the Legislature of California."
It wants a judge to permanently prevent the new law from being enforced and to award damages.
City attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan had no immediate comment.
California voters passed a law in 1996 that legalized marijuana use for medical reasons, but it didn't say anything about distribution. So some cities have permitted dispensaries to flourish while others, such as Costa Mesa and Fresno, have effectively banned them and arrested owners.
Los Angeles has been struggling for years with the issue of controlling dispensaries. The ordinance that the mayor signed last month caps the number of dispensaries in the city at 70.
City officials have estimated there could be as many as 1,000 outlets in the city and that some sell pot as a business. Last month, the city filed lawsuits and eviction notices against 21 dispensaries and arrested one owner.
Double Toke! Ammiano Reintroduces Bill to Legalize, Tax Marijuana
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has reintroduced his pioneering bill seeking to legalize and tax pot in California.
In a statement released this afternoon, Ammiano's office said the San Francisco Democrat hopes the new legislation will build on support garnered by AB 390, his first pot-legalization measure, which passed out of committee in Sacramento but overran its deadline for consideration by the rest of the Legislature.
The bill's expiration last month appeared more or less in line with the grand strategy of Ammiano, who said he wanted to take plenty of time to build consensus on the issue. Now AB 2254, the latest incarnation of the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, will get a second shot.
"We're even more optimistic about the fate of this bill than we were about AB 390," Aaron Smith, California director for the Marijuana Policy Project, told SF Weekly.
AUDIO: Will Legalizing Pot Solve California’s Budget Woes?
By at least one estimate, California's largest cash crop is not milk, cheese, or oranges, it's marijuana. Some advocates say legalizing pot — and taxing it — could be a way out of the state's financial woes, and they recently secured enough signatures for a ballot initiative to do just that. But how much revenue a legal pot industry generates would depend on how prices are set.
And it isnt just Los Angeles having budget trouble, the whole state is in the throes of a full-blown fiscal crisis. But it looks like Californians may get the chance to vote on a novel way to help balance the books. The proposal? Legalized pot, then tax it. So, how much money would that raise? Well, that depends on complicated economic questions like what would a joint sell for on the open market?
Heres NPRs David Kestenbaum with our Planet Money team.
DAVID KESTENBAUM: Right now, the price of marijuana varies a lot. The government actually studies these things. Researchers go into holding cells or if people have been arrested and asked questions like what do you pay for marijuana?
Los Angeles City Council Votes to Close 800 Marijuana Dispensaries
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to close roughly 800 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city by passing the first reading of an ordinance which would also require 75% of remaining dispensaries to relocate. The vote, to be confirmed in a second reading of the ordinance next Tuesday, will radically change the landscape of medical marijuana distribution in Los Angeles, which has been largely unregulated since dispensaries were first authorized by state law in 1996.
If the ordinance takes effect later this spring, medical marijuana dispensaries will have to find locations more than 1000 feet from various 'sensitive uses' -- including churches, public parks, schools, rehab centers, and other dispensaries. They will also be required to grow all their cannabis on-site, test it for pesticides, provide written notice of their existence to all neighbors within 1000 feet, maintain 24-hour complaint hotlines, hire unarmed security guards to patrol a two-block radius, keep 90 days of security footage and fulfill a number of other registration requirements with the city.
Los Angeles City Council Delays Medical Marijuana Vote Until January 19
The Los Angeles City Council delayed final approval of regulations for medical cannabis collectives until Tuesday. Councilmembers want more time to study a report by the Planning Department and new ordinance language provided by the City Attorney less than one hour before this morning’s meeting. The debate about the regulations seems to be winding up, with only a few contentious issues left to resolve – including where collectives can locate and how many will be allowed.
More than one hundred Angelinos showed up for today’s Special Meeting, more than half of whom spoke in segments strictly limited to one minute each by acting President Dennis Zine. The crowd was stunned to hear the Executive Director of Beverly Hills NORML, Cheryl Shuman, tell the Council that she was denied a liver transplant because of her medical cannabis use. “I am going to die because of this,” she told the Council.
The 51-page report from the Planning Department showed the acreage available for collectives under differing regulatory schemes. In most cases, requiring buffer zones between a laundry list of sensitive uses and residential uses would eliminate most opportunities. For example, the report shows that requiring collectives to more than 500 feet from sensitive uses and any property used as a residence would mean that only four of the 137 collectives registered before the city’s moratorium could remain open.
A Big Week for Marijuana Legalization
The California Assembly's public safety committee voted 4-3 yesterday in favor of a bill that would legalize marijuana and regulate it like alcohol. Although the bill likely won't go anywhere (it will miss a deadline to reach the full floor for a vote), this is the first time a statewide committee has approved such a measure and it's a sure sign that attitudes are changing in California and across the country.
The news came a day after New Jersey became the 14th state to approve marijuana for medicinal use. Gov. Jon Corzine says he'll sign the bill into law before he leaves office this week.
The momentum toward marijuana legalization continues to grow. On Monday, activists filed a petition in Washington state that will put full legalization on the ballot before voters in November.
A poll this week in California found 84 percent of the state in favor of legalizing marijuana, and a study conducted by the legislature found that taxing marijuana $50 an ounce would raise about $1 billion for the state.
Bill That Would Legalize Marijuana in California Passes Committee
A bill that would legalize and tax marijuana was passed Tuesday by a key panel of the California Assembly.
The Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve the proposal sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The new law would make marijuana legal to grow and possess for residents at least 21 years old.
"The way it exists now is harming our youth,'' Ammiano said. "Drug dealers do not ask for ID. We need to regulate something that has gone chaotic, has resulted in carnage. I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea.''
Opponents, including prosecutors and police, said legalization would lead to higher crime rates.
Medical marijuana, meet e-commerce — not selling… but reimbursing for time
Entrepreneur John Lee thinks the pot business is ready for its own Amazon.com.
The numbers back him up. Marijuana is California's biggest cash crop, generating sales estimated at $14 billion a year. Thanks to the state's increasingly liberal medical marijuana laws, more of that money than ever before is being spent legally.
Which leaves sellers with new challenges: Taxes. Invoices. Supply chain management. Regulatory compliance.
Enter PlainView Systems, a four-month-old Sonoma startup that aims to bring sophisticated business management tools to an industry that has only recently begun operating like one. "It's a business where everyone is very, very paranoid," Lee says.
PlainView's "compassionate care marketplace" is a business-to-business exchange for licensed providers of medical marijuana and their patients. Participants can band together to form growing collectives -- a legal requirement for those that want to sell pot -- and cut deals with other members to buy and sell their inventory. The system also helps users sellers keep their records in order, generating invoices, sales reports and tax paperwork.
Judge Orders Return of Marijuana Confiscated by California Highway Patrol
Sixty pounds of marijuana was restored to its “rightful owner” after a judge ruled in favor of the defendant in a case involving possession of marijuana for sale and possession, a charge that violates the California health and safety code.
Thirty-three year-old Sagura Doven was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol, who eventually found sixty pounds of marijuana packed in baggies which were placed in a large duffel bag. Had he been convicted of the charges brought against him, he would have faced up to four years of jail time.
His lawyer Glen Jonas, however, argued that Doven’s possession of marijuana was well within the confines of the law governing medical marijuana in the state. Doven was allegedly on his way to a medical marijuana collective based in Venice, of which he was a member, when he was pulled over. He was, therefore, authorized to transport the marijuana in question.
OAKLAND: Cannabis College Redefines ‘Higher Education’
Oaksterdam University's new campus is a three-story, 30,000-square-foot building where it can enroll up to 100 students in its three-month course. Credit: Dale Clare
It seemed like a typical grand opening. The president of Oaksterdam University and an Oakland City Council member helped cut a red ribbon strung across the doorway. A crowd of 100 people clapped and cheered.
The city council member, Rebecca Kaplan, praised the school for helping revive the neighborhood, stimulating the local economy and attracting people to downtown Oakland.
"This is a large, growing and thriving business," she told the crowd at the celebration Thursday evening. "It is bringing customers for all the other businesses. It is a key part of the growth and revitalization of the entire neighborhood."
But this is no ordinary university. It trains students to work in California's booming medical marijuana business. Its mission is to build support for the movement to legalize cannabis.
The college has expanded so quickly since it opened in 2007 that it outgrew its two previous spaces. Its new campus is a three-story, 30,000-square-foot building where it can enroll up to 100 students in its three-month course.
Confusion about marijuana sales traced to California law
Yamileth Bolanos helps a customer pick out a strain of medical cannabis at the PureLife Alternative Wellness Center in Los Angeles. Bolanos and other collective operators argue state law allows sales. But, she admits, "It's like the Bible, everybody reads it the way they want to." Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / December 24, 2009
Prosecutors in Los Angeles insist that collectives cannot sell medical marijuana at their stores and can provide it only to members who actively cultivate it together. Dispensary operators, on the other hand, argue that it is absurd to expect them to run Soviet-style collective farms and to rule out cash payments for pot.
When the Los Angeles City Council finishes its marijuana ordinance, which may finally happen this month, it is likely to inflame this increasingly contentious debate over how the drug can be distributed.
The conflict hinges on the state's 2003 medical marijuana law and almost entirely on a single sentence.
"The law's screwed up in a lot of ways. There's big gaping holes," said Yamileth Bolanos, who runs PureLife Alternative Wellness Center and is one of the city's most politically involved operators. "It's very confusing for everyone, even the prosecution and law enforcement. It's like the Bible, everybody reads it the way they want to."
