Dispensaries

A referendum to repeal a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles appears to be headed for the ballot, with pot shop supporters saying Wednesday that they have collected nearly twice the signatures required to force a citywide vote and key City Council members signaling that they won't try to stop it. On Thursday, medical cannabis supporters plan to turn in the names of 50,000 voters who want the referendum included on the March ballot....

Outside a Trader Joe's in Silver Lake, a man in sunglasses and flip-flops called out questions to bag-toting shoppers. "Do you support medical marijuana?" he asked. "Well did you hear what City Hall just did?" An army of signature-gatherers has hit Los Angeles streets in recent weeks in a drive to repeal a recent ban on marijuana dispensaries. If activists can collect the roughly 27,400 names required within the next three weeks, a referendum to overturn the ban would go before voters in March.

Medical marijuana advocates suffered a bruising political setback last week, watching helplessly as the Los Angeles City Council moved to shut down hundreds of pot shops. But pot dispensaries have quietly made headway on another City Hall front: mobilizing campaign cash for their key allies. Over the past year, dispensaries and their supporters have given more than $16,000 to the re-election campaigns of two Westside councilmen who opposed the pot shop ban, according to a Times review.

Re "Is marijuana good medicine?," Opinion, July 26 Dr. David Sack says few medical conditions are affected by medical marijuana - such as cancer and HIV (the ability to actually eat while in treatment), migraines, anxiety disorders and the ability to fall asleep, to name some of them. A few years ago, a woman I loved was diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time. The use of illegal marijuana gave her a decent quality of life until she passed. I have a solution to the concerns over marijuana dispensaries: Close them down.

The Los Angeles City Council is plainly out of its depth when it comes to regulating medical marijuana. This was already clear after years of fumbling and court-delayed attempts to limit the number or locations of cannabis dispensaries, but it became painfully obvious Tuesday when the council approved a ban on all dispensaries - along with a separate motion to draft an ordinance that would allow well-established pot shops to stay open, partially defeating...

The Los Angeles City Council has decided that leaving medical marijuana dispensaries unregulated and uncontrolled is what is best for L.A. residents. On Tuesday, as reported by The Times , council members voted 14 to 0 to no longer be in the business of ensuring that dispensaries are well run and that patients have safe access to medicine. This will not eliminate dispensaries in Los Angeles. Rather, the City Council's action will only eliminate the most transparent, compliant, well-intentioned facilities.

In what could be a turning point in the city's seemingly unending battle to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban all pot dispensaries, while also opening the door to possibly let some remain. Under the ban, all of the 762 dispensaries registered in the city will be sent letters ordering them to shut down immediately. Those that don't comply may face legal action from the city. Medical marijuana activists erupted in jeers after the decision, and police officers were called into the council chambers to quell them.

Hundreds of medical marijuana patients and advocates rallied here Monday in advance of an evening fundraiser by President Obama, calling on him to freeze federal crackdowns on cannabis dispensaries until he clarifies his administration's policies on operations that are following state and local laws. The rally came two weeks after a federal forfeiture action against the Oakland-based Harborside Health Center, the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary and one that has won acclaim as a model for the industry.

The fight over the future of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles drew patients, union organizers and even a priest to City Hall on Monday on the eve of a major City Council vote on whether to outlaw pot shops. The merits of the proposed ban, which would prohibit storefront sales of marijuana while still allowing small groups of patients and caregivers to grow it collectively, were hashed out at dueling rallies. At one, a few residents and local leaders who favor the ban complained about the crime and nuisance wrought by dispensaries.