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The recent passage
of the ban on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries by the Los Angeles City Council has
left many puzzled given the Council’s history with this issue, the 762 current tax-paying
collectives and recent court decisions stating collective bans are unlawful. However, do not turn to logic or reason
for your answer; you will drive yourself mad. Instead, think politics.
In 2007, the LA
City Council voted on what many refer to as the ‘illegal moratorium’ – illegal
because the City Council failed to vote to extend this Interim Control Ordinance
by day 45, the legal limit. Instead
the Council did not review this ordinance until 90 days after its passage, at
which time the ICO had legally expired.
By State law LA’s moratorium was done before the ICO’s registration
deadline.
While at least 485
collectives were operating in the City on November 13, 2007, only 187 chose to
register by the ICO deadline. Many
did not register as they were advised by their legal counsel not to because of
the ‘illegal moratorium’ or advised to ‘not get on a list’ because a
cross-deputized LAPD officer stated openly he would ‘bust everyone’s ass’ for
admitting to running a collective or because of the DEA landlord threat
letter. Attorneys told their
clients that if the City took any action against them, the collectives could
sue.
One-way in which
collectives tried to remedy their situation was to file a Hardship
Exemption. Under any ICO there is
a hardship clause. This allows
businesses that cannot comply with a moratorium to have a fair public hearing
to consider the reason(s) for non-compliance. While not official court hearings, Kangaroo Court does not
begin to express how the hardship hearings were handled. The City refused to hear that its
moratorium was legally over. The
City refused to acknowledge that property owners in the City were under attack
by the U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration. The City would not hear that rogue LAPD
officers threatened to target collectives that registered with the City. It was at this point where any and all
good faith attempts by collectives to be reasonable, dutiful players turned to
hiring attorneys and preparing for the City to make its next move.
During this time
at least another 300 dispensaries opened their doors in LA. Neighborhood groups and community
leaders began to inquire with their council members as to why collectives
continued to open despite the moratorium, why were so many collectives
requesting a hardship and when will there is be a final regulatory ordinance?
Enter the LA City
Attorney’s office. In 2006, when
Councilmember Dennis P. Zine first motioned for a moratorium, Patient Advocacy
Network sat down with him to discuss the need to seat a working group to draft
regulations expeditiously. He was reminded that the maximum time with
extensions, 18 months and the 45 days, was all the time the City had by law to
get an ordinance approved and on the books; failure to do so would create legal
chaos. The Los Angeles Medical
Marijuana Working Group was seated and met several times during 2007, to draft
a workable ordinance. Much of the
work was done before the moratorium took effect. The Group’s final meeting was cancelled by notice from the
City Attorney indicating that the Group’s input was no longer needed and the
City Attorney would complete the City’s medical marijuana ordinance.
Nearly a year
passed and the City Attorney had still not presented a draft ordinance for
Council’s approval despite numerous requests from the Council. Councilmember Ed Reyes reconvened the
Working Group very briefing and began drafting a new ordinance due to the lack
of communication from the City Attorney.
Councilmember Zine had to actually get a motion passed to force the City
Attorney’s office to present its draft ordinance. What finally came to light was an unworkable, legally
questionable ordinance unlike any set of regulations in California. Sales were not allowed but sales tax
had to be paid. All patients had
to participate in cultivation regardless of how ill, disabled or low-income
they may be as the City Attorney believes cultivating is the only medical
cannabis activity allowed by State law.
Despite no legal
evidence to support the City Attorney’s claims, the LA City Council, after
adding further restrictions, approved what the media referred to as the ‘Worst
Medical Marijuana Ordinance In The Country.” Upon its passage in January 2010, the first lawsuits by patient
collectives were filed against the City.
By December of 2010, the judge ruled that provisions of the City’s
ordinance were unlawful and granted dozens of collectives a Temporary
Restraining Order against the City of Los Angeles. The City immediately made amendments to the ordinance to
argue that the original ordinance was no longer in place but further lawsuits
were filed and a few hundred more collectives opened their doors in Los
Angeles.
During these years
patient advocates continued to offer solutions, present workable draft ordinances,
facts, evidence and experts. Patients
and their advocates have attended countless hearings and meetings with the City
on this issue. Hundreds of
patients have testified on public record what the City’s failed ordinances have
done to their health and lives.
Then came the
Battle of the Bans. Angry,
frustrated and concerned Angelenos still had the same set of questions they did
in 2007: Why do dispensaries
continue to open; Why is there no workable set of guidelines for regulating them
like in West Hollywood, Palm Springs, San Francisco; Why can the City do nothing about shutting down bad
players? Instead of answering the
questions they heard, the Council answered the questions they wanted to hear
and ultimately blamed physicians, patients and State law for LA’s
problems.
LA Councilmembers
José Huizar and Paul Koretz proposed banning dispensaries outright in two
competing motions. Huizar’s
proposal is to ban all dispensaries but allow 3 or fewer patients to grow
therapeutic grade cannabis together and to distribute the harvest among them –
“The Gentle Ban” – gentle because sick and dying people get to become
horticultural experts in their final days and weeks while they wait 4 - 6
months for a harvest. Koretz’s
motion is a ban on all dispensaries except 100 handpicked dispensaries that would
remain operational – “The Limited Immunity Ban” – immunity limited to those who
made contributions to Mr. Koretz’s election campaign.
The LA City Council
does not like to appear in conflict publicly and on July 24, 2012, worked out a
way in closed session to approve both bans. The Gentle Ban was approved and adopted outright, signed by
the Mayor and goes into effect September 6, 2012. The Limited Immunity Ban was amended to include only the
collectives that made it on the ICO list of 2007, and that proposal now heads back
to commissions, committees and the Council for final approval.
Now back to
thinking politics. When those
concerned citizens ask their council members about the medical cannabis issue,
the Council can say they voted on the ban, for them. The City Attorney wrote The Gentle Ban and argued hard for
it for many months as the “only way to the stop the lawsuits and close the
dispensaries.” Undermining our
State’s medical marijuana laws and Councilmember Zine’s original motion to
regulate storefront dispensaries has been the centerpiece of LA City Attorney
Carmen Trutanich’s term in office.
After recently losing his bid for LA County District Attorney most local
political experts argue Trutanich will also lose his bid to get re-elected as
LA’s City Attorney. When the ban
doesn’t work, is challenged in court, very few close and more collectives open,
the Council can throw the ‘Nuch’ under the bus. He wrote it, it was his idea and he said it would work.
Due to the failed
moratorium and recent court decisions favoring collectives, any move by the
City or the voters to block LA’s collectives from having a fair public hearing
for consideration of a medical marijuana permit will perpetuate lawsuits. Once the moratorium expired with no
workable ordinance in place, the City gave every collective in LA vested
rights. This is not the fault of
physicians or patients or Proposition 215. This is the failure of the Los Angeles City Council. Failure to put fair, workable
regulations in place for medical cannabis collectives and to allow a fair process
will cost Los Angeles taxpayer another few million dollars and possibly a few
more political careers.
Posted by Degé
Coutee
