Saturday, June 6th, 2009
The Los Angeles City Council will take up fourteen hardship applications for medical cannabis collectives in Eagle Rock and Highland Park on Tuesday morning. These are the first of approximately five hundred hardship applications filed for medical cannabis facilities that opened or relocated after the City Council adopted a moratorium on new collectives on September 14, 2007. Increasing pressure from neighborhood groups and bad media coverage have embarrassed the City Council in recent weeks, and observers expect all or most of the applications will be denied. The City Council will also vote on a motion by Councilmember Huizar to remove the hardship provision from the city’s moratorium. If approved, the motion will prevent any new hardship applications.
Later on Tuesday, the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will discuss permanent regulations, which the City Council plans to adopt before the moratorium expires September. Medical cannabis advocates joined City Councilmember Dennis Zine earlier this year in rejecting a draft ordinance prepared by outgoing City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. That misguided measure regarded collectives as illegal and would have forced every facility in Los Angeles to close. The PLUM Committee is expected to send recommendations for improved regulations to the full City Council on Tuesday. The Council will then forward the recommendations, including any amendments, to the City Attorney’s office with instructions to write a new ordinance.
An alphabet soup of advocacy organizations has been working with Councilmembers and city staff for over a year to craft the permanent regulations – Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance (GLACA), Patients Advocacy Network (PAN). These groups join other local players, including patients, law enforcement, and neighborhood groups. The final phase of writing the ordinance will be controversial, as various interests compete to shape the next draft. Expect differing strategies and priorities.
There is likely to be something in the draft ordinance to which every stakeholder objects. Ultimately, every measure must be evaluated based on its benefit or harm to legal patients. It will be even more important now that every medical cannabis supporter in Los Angeles stay plugged in and let Councilmembers know which provisions help facilitate access to medicine – and which will roll back patients’ rights.
The City Council meets at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, June 9, in Room 340, City Hall, 200 North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Arrive early to complete a public speaker’s card. The PLUM Committee meets at 2:00 PM just across the rotunda in Room 350.
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Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Medical cannabis patients and advocates helped elect Carmen Trutanich as the new City Attorney on Tuesday, but the results in the District 5 City Council race are still too close to call. Paul Koretz appears to be the likely winner in that contest, but with only a few hundred votes separating him from his opponent, the provisional ballots will decide the outcome. The Los Angeles medical cannabis community threw its growing grassroots weight behind Koretz and Trutanich in hopes of steering the city towards a more reasonable medical cannabis policy.
City Attorney Elect Trutanich with GLACA members
The Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), which is working to develop and implement sensible regulations for medical cannabis collectives and cooperatives, helped call voters, walk precincts, and turn out hundreds of members to elect the two candidates. GLACA members joined City Councilmembers Zine and Hahn in Universal City on Tuesday night to celebrate Trutanich’s victory, while a delegation of medical cannabis advocates gathered in central Los Angeles to watch the neck-and-neck race with Koretz.
The election of Trutanich – and possibly Koretz – is good news for medical cannabis supporters. Paul Koretz is the former Mayor of West Hollywood and California Assemblymember who has been a long-time champion of medical cannabis rights. He is likely to replace medical cannabis opponent Jack Weiss as the representative for District 5 – which will mean one more vote for safe access on the City Council.
Carmen Trutanich defeated outgoing Los Angeles City Councilmember Jack Weiss in the race for City Attorney following a surprisingly negative campaign. Patients and advocates feared Weiss would carry on outgoing City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo’s policy of obstructing progress on implementing sensible medical cannabis policy in the city. Trutanich told GLACA members he would uphold the state’s laws at a neighborhood meeting before the election.
Neighborhood groups and media have been critical of the City Council and City Attorney’s office for not moving quickly enough to regulate the exploding number of patients’ associations in Los Angeles. Having another medical cannabis supporter on the City Council and a more reasonable City Attorney could be important as the city begins the work of adopting a permanent ordinance in earnest this summer.
Congratulations to GLACA, the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, and dozens of patients’ associations who helped make a difference!
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Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
There is a special election for the City of Los Angeles on Tuesday, May 19, and we have a chance to make a big difference for medical cannabis patients and providers that day. Because this is a run-off election it will be decided by just a few hundred votes! The medical cannabis community is supporting Paul Koretz for City Council (District 5) and Carmen Trutanich for City Attorney.
If you are a registered voter in the City of Los Angeles, please find your polling place and vote on Tuesday, May 19. You should encourage friends, loved ones, medical cannabis advocates, and members of your patients’ association to do the same!
The Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), a voluntary association of local collectives working to promote best practices in the field of medical cannabis, is organizing volunteers to make calls and walk precincts in the final days before the election. The Union of Medical Marijuana Patients (UMPP) is also mobilizing the base by distributing thousands of post cards about the candidates all over the city and hosting a victory party. Many Los Angeles patients’ associations are offering incentives to memebrs who cast a balllot next week.
Why all the fuss over a runoff election? Because this runoff will have a big impact on the city’s medical cannabis policy. If elected, Paul Koretz, a long time champion of medical cannabis rights, will replace medical cannabis opponent Jack Weiss in District 5. That means we will replace an anti–medcial cannabis vote with a solid pro-medcial cannabis vote. Better still, we can help elect Carmen Trutanich in his close race for District Attorney with outgoing District 5 Councilmember Jack Weiss. If Trutanich wins, we can anticipate a more reasonable approach to medical cannabis and local implementation. If Weiss wins, we can expect more stalling and blocking from his office.
Imagine how much better off we will be in Los Angeles with one more vote on the City Council and a reasonable City Attorney! This is a rare chance to make a big difference with a few votes. Do your part to elect Paul Koretz to City Council (District 5) and Carmen Trutanich as City Attorney.
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Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Los Angeles City Council Member Jose Huizar made a motion yesterday to remove the hardship provision from the Interim Control Ordinance (ICO), which established a moratorium on new medical cannabis collectives in Los Angeles in 2007. The hardship provision allowed collectives that did not register with the City Clerk’s office before November 13, 2007, to ask the City Council for a special exemption from the moratorium. If adopted as drafted, Councilmember Huizar’s motion will prevent any new hardship applications, but have no effect on the previously registered collectives – including 287 collectives with pending hardship applications.
The City Council anticipated that hardship applicants would not operate their facilities until their applications were approved. However, virtually all of the applicants are currently operating in alleged violation of the ICO. It remains to be seen what action the city will take in response to the applications, but Councilmembers and staff are concerned about neighborhoods where collectives are clustering and those locations that generate complaints from neighbors.
There is likely to be a lot of uncertainty surrounding Councilmember Huizar’s new motion, the city’s movement to enforce the ICO, and the final approval of a permanent ordinance regulating collectives and cooperatives in Los Angeles. Hardship operators would do well to address any neighborhood concerns right away, and prepare to make their case when and if the City Council considers their applications. I suspect many collectives are poorly prepared for this scrutiny.
Los Angeles collectives should join the Greater Los Angeles Caregivers Alliance (GLACA), a voluntary association of collectives and cooperatives organized to promote safety and operational protocols. GLACA and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) have been working closely with city officials for over four years to protect safe access in the city. GLACA membership means having real-time access to accurate information, and the opportunity to influence the outcome of the regulatory process.
GLACA holds monthly meetings for collective operators on the third Wednesday night of every month at 9:00 PM. Email info@caregiversalliance.org for more information.
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