Endgame in LA
September 4th, 2009 | by Don Duncan |The City of Los Angles may be moving into the final stages of the four-year-old debate about permanent regulations for medical cannabis facilities in the city. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) expects the City Attorney’s office will send recommendations for the final ordinance to the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee later this month. The draft ordinance was prepared by city staff after Councilmember Zine joined advocates in rejecting an ordinance submitted by former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo in February. That measure regarded all sales of cannabis as illegal, and would have required every collective in the city to close.
Patients and advocates worry that newly-elected City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has yet to make any public comment repudiating his processor’s anti-medical cannabis position. In fact, Trutanich’s Senior Advisor Jane Usher told the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Committee on August 1 that staff in her office could find no legal protection for sales of cannabis, even inside the membership of a legally organized and operated patients’ association.
On August 10, ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford and I joined representatives of the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance (GLACA) in an unprecedented meeting with Ms. Usher and two of the other top eight managers in Trutanich’s office to discuss regulatory solutions for the city. We presented the staff with a new White Paper published by ASA and GLACA and a draft ordinance based on input from the city’s defunct medical cannabis working group. The White Paper explains the justification for storefront collectives and sales of medicine within their membership. It also makes policy recommendations for the city’s final ordinance. Trutanich’s staff listened attentively and asked hard questions – both good signs, but the outcome is uncertain.
It is possible that Carmen Trutanich will disappoint the medical cannabis community, which rallied around his campaign earlier this year, when he returns recommendations to the PLUM Committee this month. If so, patients and advocates will have to work hard persuade committee members to reject his advice and stay the course on developing sensible regulations for Los Angeles. This is important not just because regulations are proven to reduce crime and complaints in communities, but also because they will finally set some standards in a city that has grappled for too long with how best to regulate access to medicine.
Tags: Americans for Safe Access, city attorney, collectives, don duncan, los angeles city council, Trutanich, white paper
By susan on Sep 13, 2009
When you write “it is possible that Carmen Trutanich will disappoint the medical cannabis community, which rallied around his campaign earlier this year,” you can almost count on it. Let’s be prepared to be “Laura Chick’ed,” to coin a phrase after the former L A Controller who first went onto Doug McIntyre a month or two ago to say in no uncertain terms that Trutanich was “a liar and a demagogue,” said whatever it took to get her endorsement “with fancy speeches and soundbites” but “it wasn’t even just empty words, it was lies” he never meant to keep.
McIntyre’s been following the dispute between him and Greuel, who he sides with although he’s a conservative who endorsed Trutanich falling for his promises. Listen to the KABC podcast of his show from this Thursday’s (9/10) 9 am hour where he goes further to depict Trutanich as a bully who’s misusing his office and 600+ lawyers to say, in his words, “Disagree with me and I’ll sue you and ruin you.”
There’s also a Daily News editorial slamming him on going back on his solemn word on this, in today’s issue: again, a suburban Republican-oriented paper that had endorsed him against “the Machine candidate” as the election was portayed.
They also had an editorial and articles about how he and Usher have come out saying all MJ shops are illegal despite the Feb ruling by the Obama administration which no longer has the DEA busting shops IF the City Attorney deems them legal under Calif. law. But we’re learning, the real machine is the Republican one of him, Zine, head of the Police Union/ their friend Paul Weber, above all his mentor and enabler DA Steve Cooley. So it’s THEIR take on this issue which will be the one to watch. Given Trutanich’s betraying promises and people he’d used to get elected so far, and then attacking the people as he has Chick, I’d say be prepared for some heavy PR to get the Council, public and media to know what’s really happening here.
By Derek Wallace on Oct 14, 2009
I am a filmmaker who has experience with web 2.0 media, social networking and political activism. My e-mail address for this issue is budsofwrath@gmail.com if you would like my services helping to document, promote and recruit Los Angelenos in the effort to enforce a sensible medicinal marijuana policy.
Curious as to how this story has progressed in the past several weeks.