LA City Council OKs plan to close most pot clinics

[onehandle]

Source: AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The City Council gave final approval Tuesday to a much-anticipated ordinance that will close most pot dispensaries and curb the so-called "Green Rush" that swept through much of California in recent years.

The ordinance, which passed 9-3, caps the number of dispensaries at 70 and provides guidelines that will push the clinics out of neighborhoods and into industrial areas.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa must approve the ordinance for it to take effect. City officials believe it will be at least 45 days before they can enforce the new rules.

Enforcement could be a major effort for the cash-strapped city. No one is exactly sure how many pot clinics there are in Los Angeles -- the best estimate is somewhere between 800 and 1,000 -- and getting the owners to comply with the ordinance will likely meet resistance.

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/LA-City-Council-OKs-plan-to-apf-1012910549.html

[name not needed]

1. During the Great Depression it was bread lines. Looks like it's gonna be pot lines this time around

[onehandle]

3. posted in wrong place. nt

[tridim]

2. Wow. Laws don't get much more unconstitutional than that.

Is any other legal business restricted by number?

[name not needed]

4. Around here, liquor stores and alcohol serving restaurants.

The number of liquor licenses issued is tied to population. However, I don't live in California so I doubt that means anything in this case.

[onehandle]

5. Strip clubs, porn stores, bars.

Probably others.

[tridim]

6. None of which sell medicine.

What about pharmacies?

There are no restrictions on tobacco sales. I can buy tobacco from about 20 locations within a mile of my house.

[bighairy1]

20. Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

The problem that LA is dealing with is that Prop 215 was
written to allow non profit collectives to handle distribution
of a really effective medication, giving patient a choice, and
not to make profits for dealers.
   If the dispensaries are non-profit, and they are being run
as patient collectives, they can't be touched.  but as long as
people attach a corrupt capitalist system to it, the real
purpose has been defeated.  
 it's not the medication that is the issue, it's the
profiteers.
AND YES, I AM A MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER.

[larryageda215]

7. watch this crap start to happen all over L. A.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-VFEtteDt0

Remember when Obama said no more raids.

L.A. Powder Keg

[Sgent]

16. Similar

many (about half I think) of states have Certificate of Need laws which restrict the number of hospital beds, MRI's, nursing homes, etc.

[Bennyboy]

8. So ONLY A SELECT FEW people get to profit eh?

Wonder how they are going to decide which ones?

Here comes the restrictions that make it impossible to have one. A mile from a school library, grocery store, shoe repair shop etc, so there is no place at all in teh city to have one...

[Betsy Ross]

9. Our city council ran the only in-town dispensary out of town.

One location, an easy walk, bike ride, or bus and with adjacent car parking was just too convenient for people in poor health. Let's go to Oakland and fight traffic and parking in some seedy neighborhood. It sucks. One needs to medicate to overcome the anxiety induced by the difficulty of acquiring mj. Thanks city council. So isn't great that LA wants to put the dispensaries in industrial neighborhoods. Sucks big time. May have to switch to home delivery or get a care-giver to pick-up medication. SUCKS.

[Flaneur]

10. LA City Council Wants Thousands of Workers to Lose Their Jobs

There are somewhere under a thousand dispensaries in the city. If they shut down 800, that's 2500 jobs lost at a minimum.

[alp227]

12. There were far more marijuana joints than Starbucks and McDonald's in LA in fact!

Maybe the dispensaries were stealing jobs?

[Flaneur]

19. That's a silly comparison.

How about the number of pharmacies?

Or the number of liquor outlets?

[Downwinder]

11. Going to limit the number of pharmacies, too? n/t

[glitch]

13. Assholes. Wait until someone they love gets cancer.

I hate them like the poison they are in our body politic.

[bemildred]

14. More work for lawyers. nt

[BolivarianHero]

15. Fuck these morons....

The people of LA better wake the fuck up and start voting for Greens and Socialists before the Dems, the Repukes, and the prison-industrial complex drive their pitiful state deeper into the abyss.

I can't believe those assholes who I hope are stricken with multiple sclerosis are allowed to be Democrats.

[krabigirl]

18. Yep, It's despicable.

I don't think these city council members should be allowed to be called Dems. Or, maybe I should just stop being one. Criminals, all of them.

[krabigirl]

17. Wow, so the 137 that can operate will make huge profits.

At least some will remain, but this is BS. Good luck with this, LA. I forsee a long, expensive, court battle. LA doesn't have the funds to begin to enforce this.

[bighairy1]

21. You are missing the point.

Krabgirl,
  Prop 215 was written specifically to enable patient
collectives to grow, and distribute medical marijuana to it's
members.  If the Pot clubs are following the guidelines, and
are operating as a true non profit collective, the City can do
squat, and will end up in litigation hell for many years and
millions of dollars, but if it's just some dealer trying to
use the law to line his pockets, he's a goner.
prop 215 states that every Medical Marijuana patient can have
up to 7 plants growing, and any collective choosing to grow it
needs to respect those limits.
so grow Your own,  or become a member of a collective, but
make sure that it's a legitimate one, and stay medicated,
because it keeps me from having seizures, and helps quiet an
exploding brain, helps with pain, anxiety, and makes me almost
a tolerable human being...... almost.
read the laws, and make your local patient collective follow
them.