Medical Marijuana Advocates File Lawsuit Challenging L.A. Dispensary Ordinance

[asdjrocky]

Restrictive provisions amount to de facto ban on otherwise legal dispensaries

Los Angeles, CA -- The country's largest medical marijuana advocacy organization, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles today, claiming that certain provisions in a recently adopted regulatory ordinance would shut down virtually all dispensaries in the city. The local medical marijuana law passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Villaraigosa on February 3rd requires dispensaries to find a new location within 7 days after the ordinance takes effect. In order to comply with the ordinance, dispensaries must be located at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks, libraries, churches and other so-called "sensitive uses," and cannot abut or be across the street from any residence, which excludes almost all commercial areas in the city.

"The dispensary ordinance passed by the Los Angeles City Council might have been reasonable, if not for some onerous provisions," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the lawsuit today. "The requirement to find a new location within 7 days is completely unreasonable and undermines the due process of otherwise legal medical marijuana dispensaries." Despite spending more than two years to develop regulations, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance without maps to show where dispensaries could locate in order to comply with the law.

Among other restrictive provisions, the Los Angeles regulations require that dispensaries "notify the City Clerk within one week after the effective date of this ordinance of their intention to register...at an identified location." The lawsuit's plaintiffs, Venice Beach Care Center and PureLife Alternative Wellness Center, two dispensaries that have operated in Los Angeles since before the city's moratorium, call the 7-day requirement to find a new site unnecessarily prohibitive. Plaintiffs further argue that without the assistance of maps such a requirement is inconceivable.
the rest-
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=5915

[ChiciB1]

Oh Gee Whiz... Why Are They So Mad?

The "could" have given them only THREE days!! I can't believe they actually think this "ordinance" could have any weight!

But then again, I guess nothing shocks me much anymore!!!

[anigbrowl]

1. Good catch, though I think the dispensaries are partly to blame

Up in northern CA, dispensaries and similar ventures have worked closely with municipal authorities to get paperwork and permits straight, and experienced few problems as a result. Down in LA it turned into a bit of a free-for-all with everyone and their dog opening up a dispensary as if it were some sort of gold rush (which is how quite a few people looked at it...). LA got waaaay oversaturated and the dispensary operators created a bad reputation for themselves, so now there's an excessive backlash that is hurting the more responsible dispensaries as well.

Hopefully the court will grant ASA an injunction and this will only be a bump in the road, but it's an object lesson in what can happen when people blow off the local political considerations.

[ChiciB1]

2. Didn't Look At It That Way, But I See Your Point! Where I Live THIS Kind

of ordinance would never be an issue! But just in case they ask me before I die, I be sure to use this as a talking point.

Yes, I'm a little punchy right now... time to go read a book or something!

[asdjrocky]

3. ASA is working hard on it.

And yes, it's been a little more of a group effort up here in Northern Ca. I was at a County Supervisor meeting this morning and we'll have a City Council meeting next week. We're making every effort here to comply with all ordinances, but they have to give us some first.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. There are WAY more Starbucks in LA than dispensaries

And they're only selling stuff that's bad for you. Cannabis dispensaries are dispensing medicine and at least some of the people using their services cannot travel far to get their medicine. As for the alleged explosion of dispensaries, divide that by the number of people needing their services and the current number is WAY under-serving the community. We need MORE of them, not less.