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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Thursday, June 4th, 2009
The City of Goleta in Santa Barbara County adopted a ban on medical cannabis collectives on Wednesday, but asked staff to come back with recommendations for regulations before September. The City Council opted for a ban on collectives because city staff indicated they did not have time to prepare a permanent ordinance before the city’s two-year old moratorium expires on August 30. State law prohibits local government from renewing a moratorium on any business for longer than two years.
Patients at Wednesday night’s meeting complained that the staff report supporting the ban was one sided – focusing only on law enforcement claims that collective attract crime. City staff presented reports from police officers from San Diego and San Bernardino Counties, but did not include research by Americans for Safe Access (ASA) showing that regulations reduce crime and complaints.
The City Council heard emotional testimony from local patients and providers, who vowed to keep fighting for regulations in the city. There is no word on what the city intends to do with the two collectives that survived a federal crackdown on property owners renting to collectives last year.
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Saturday, May 30th, 2009
Update June 2 – The PLUM Committee approved Councilmember Huizar’s motion this afternoon. It will be considered by the full City Council on Friday.
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The Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will consider a motion by Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar on Tuesday that would remove the controversial hardship provision from the city’s Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) establishing a moratorium on new medical cannabis facilities. Hundreds of new and relocating patients’ associations have filed hardship applications and opened since the City Council adopted the ICO in September 2007. According to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) published recently by the Planning Department, applicants should have waited for approval of their hardship applications before opening. However, inconsistent information from city staff and a lack of enforcement contributed to hundreds of new collectives opening in the last eighteen months.
Councilmember Huizar’s motion is aimed at stopping the proliferation of new medical cannabis providers in light of a growing public backlash. Media, neighborhood groups, and law enforcement are speaking out against the continued proliferation citywide and the clustering of facilities in some neighborhoods. The public outcry comes at an inconvenient time for patients and advocates. The City Council is debating the terms of a permanent ordinance for medical cannabis associations in Los Angeles right now. The growing controversy is likely to influence that debate and the contents of the final regulations.
The PLUM Committee is likely to recommend that the full City Council approve the motion and amend the ICO. No additional hardship applications will be available if the City Council approves the measure at a future meeting. Councilmember Huizar’s motion will not directly impact hundreds of hardship applications already filed. These must still be heard separately by the PLUM Committee, before going to the City Council for final approval or denial. No date has been set to hear the hardship applications at this time.
The PLUM Committee meets at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, June 2, in Hearing Room 350 at City Hall – 200 N. Spring St. at Temple in downtown Los Angeles.
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the local District Attorney may be orchestrating a crackdown on medical cannabis patients’ associations in the San Fernando Valley. Defense attorney Bill Kroger, who represents a collective raided by the LAPD yesterday, spoke with Detective Holcomb from the Devonshire Precinct today. Detective Holcomb claims the LAPD raided four collectives in recent days – and that more will follow.
Detective Holcomb offered the same spurious explanations for the raids we have come to expect from law enforcement – “dispensaries are illegal under People v. Mentch, these places are operating for profit, no sales of cannabis are legal,” etc. I addressed these untenable arguments in greater length on the Americans for Safe Access (ASA) blog today.
New LAPD raids come at an uncertain time for Los Angeles patients’ associations. The fate of hundreds of hardship applications filed by collectives and cooperatives that opened or relocated after the city’s moratorium took effect in September of 2007 may be decided soon. The buzz from City Hall is that many will be denied. The City Council is also working to craft permanent regulations before the moratorium expires on September 14, 2009. A proposal by outgoing City Attorney to close all of the city’s storefront facilities seems dead, but advocates worry the City Council is running out of time to adopt a more sensible measure.
Los Angeles area collective and cooperative operators would do well to be on high alert for police activity – especially in the Devonshire precinct. This includes communities like Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Granada Hills, Northridge, Porter Ranch, West Hills, and Winnetka. Take some precautions to protect staff and members:
1. Limit the amount of medicine and other assets on hand to only what is necessary to serve members.
2. Make sure everyone knows to remain silent if detained and questioned.
3. Schedule a staff meeting or training to prepare for a raid.
4. Have an attorney on call for emergencies.
5. Make a plan for what to do if you are in jail – bail, child care, securing the facility, etc.
6. Be 100% sure there are no weapons or illegal drugs in the facility.
I also recommend you call ASA toll free at (888) 929-4367 to report any law enforcement encounters. Leave a message at extension 319 or email legalsupport@safeaccessnow.org if you do not get through.
Federal pressure on collectives may be waning, but we still must be vigilant. We are likely to see more LAPD activity as the public outcry about the continued proliferation of collectives grows and the deadline for the new ordinance gets closer.
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Monday, May 25th, 2009
Councilmember Steve Cohn
Sacramento City Councilmember Steve Cohn told the Sacramento Bee that the City Council may vote to adopt a moratorium on new medical cannabis collectives and cooperatives as soon as June 2. “It’s not that we don’t want any marijuana dispensaries,” the Councilmember told reporter Ryan Lillis, “What it means is, we already have quite a few in the city, and we want to take a timeout and see where we’re at.” Advocates in Sacramento have expected a moratorium since the number of patients’ associations mushroomed in that city over the last year.
Lanette Davies, the Sacramento coordinator for Americans for Safe Access (ASA), and other local advocates have been talking with elected officials there about adopting sensible regulations and preventing the kind of public backlash that the proliferation of storefront collectives and cooperatives generated in other cities. Improving local regulations is an important goal of ASA’s California Campaign, and research shows that sensible guidelines reduce crime and complaints around facilities.
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