Where’s “Nuch”?
July 29th, 2009 | by Don Duncan |The City of Los Angeles continued its long march towards regulations for medical cannabis collectives and cooperatives today, when the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee heard the second round of status updates from city departments. Committee members heard updates from the Planning Department, the Building and Safety Department, and comments from the public – including representatives from three Neighborhood Councils concerned about continued proliferation and nuisance activity around cannabis facilities. Notably absent, however, was input from newly elected City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich, who has yet to take a public stand on medical cannabis regulations.
LA City Attorney Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich
City staff reported some progress during the brief discussion. Staff has mapped “sensitive uses” for 35% of the city. When the entire city is mapped, Planning Department staff will draw radii of various sizes around these addresses to determine how far collectives and cooperatives must be from a laundry list of uses, which may include schools, churches, parks, beach access points, youth-oriented businesses, places where young people tend to congregate, public beach access points, drug treatment facilities, and on and on.
Debate about what constitutes a sensitive use and how far permitted collectives must be from each is likely to be one of the most contentious debates in the process of writing the new ordinance. Neighbors concerned about crime and unchecked expansion in the number of patients’ associations are calling for broad buffer zones from a wide range of uses. Councilmember Paul Koretz, who is temporarily serving on the committee in former Councilmember Jack Weiss’ seat, expressed concern that the buffer zones must not be so large as to make operating a collective impossible. Chairman Ed Reyes assured listeners that the goal was to have an enforceable ordinance that secured access for those in need.
Buffer zones will be one of the contentious issues in the new draft ordinance, but there is an even more serious issue that threatens to complicate the process late in the game. City Attorney Trutanich has yet to weigh in on an unpublished draft ordinance circulated by city staff last week. Advocates worry that the City Attorney may be influenced by staff held over from former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who regarded all storefront collectives and sales of cannabis as illegal. If Trurtanich ignores City Council instructions and case law affirming the legal status of collectives, he may revert to Delgadillo’s position that “illegal” activity can not be regulated. This would be a serious set back for patients and advocates.
Representatives from Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the Greater Los Angeles Collectives Alliance (GLACA) are working hard to educate the City Attorney and his staff about the California Attorney General’s guidelines for medical cannabis, which recognize that legally organized and operated collectives may maintain storefront facilities; and about important case law upholding the legal status of patients’ associations in Los Angeles. Recent ASA court victories in Butte County and San Diego are the cornerstone of this effort.
Trutanich may pleasantly surprise advocates, who rallied around his candidacy in hopes of defeating former City Councilmember and medical cannabis opponent Jack Weiss in this year’s runoff election. However, his silence does little to reassure the community at this strategic juncture. Unless Trutanich repudiates his predecessor’s ideological stance and vocally supports real implementation, advocates may soon conclude that “better than Jack Weiss” is too low a standard for the City Attorney.
No one will benefit if the debate about new regulations regresses to where it was a year ago, when law enforcement and a reluctant City Attorney impeded regulation based on personal bias and faulty legal analysis. It is past time to move forward with sensible regulations, which are proven to protect patients and the community by reducing crime and complaints around collectives. The City Council should be eager for Los Angeles to join dozens of other jurisdictions that have already realized these benefits – especially given a growing backlash from neighborhood groups and critical media.
Tags: Butte County, carmen trutanich, ed reyes, Los Angeles, los angeles city council, paul koretz, PLUM committee, regulations, San Diego
By susan on Sep 13, 2009
Trutanich’s Chief Deputy and staunch campaigner Jane Usher told our monthly meeting of Neighborhood Councils last month, that their office has determined that under California law ALL marijuana shops are illegal because unless the pot is grown and sold by members of a collective NOT for profit or commerce, they’re in violation. This comes despite the February decision by the Obama administration to discontinue prosecuting shops which comply with California law, which will take precedence from now on. Sounds like everyone got “Laura Chick-ed” on this to get our endorsement.