Marijuana

With hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles operating in violation of a moratorium, the City Council will start the process of shutting some down Tuesday by voting on exemption requests filed by 16 dispensaries. Most, if not all, of the requests probably will be denied because the dispensaries did not register with the city by the moratorium's deadline in 2007. A denial would allow the city to take legal steps to force them to close.

It's just past noon in Laguna Woods, and retired Navy pilot David Masters, 71, has just wrapped up 18 holes on the golf course. The scene beyond him is something out of a postcard: bright green grass framed by blue sky and snow-capped mountains. Just around the corner, a group of retirees pokes gentle fun at one another while they lawn bowl. And in a nearby clubhouse, another social club gathers to chat, share drinks and eat coffeecake.

At hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, cash is changing hands, typically about $45 for an eighth of an ounce. The dispensary owners call it a donation because state law requires their stores to operate as nonprofit collectives. But their critics -- police, the district attorney and the newly elected city attorney -- insist that it's a sale and that marijuana sales remain illegal under state law. The debate turns largely on the interpretation of one sentence in the law, but it touches on one of the biggest concerns about dispensaries in Los Angeles: that the rapid proliferation of stores is being driven by people who are hoping to profit from the so-called Green Rush and who are buying rather than growing much of their cannabis.

When Matt Vaughn was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 5 in Northern California early on a Sunday morning, he had a bag of marijuana on the passenger seat. The California Highway Patrol officer smelled the weed, searched the car, took the marijuana and pipe and gave Vaughn a sobriety test, which he passed. An angry Vaughn showed the officer his doctor's recommendation to use marijuana for glaucoma. The officer was unimpressed.

A city inspector dropped by the Bulldog Cafe Collective on Melrose Avenue last week to see if it was still in business. It was. Inside the spare, modern interior, dusky green marijuana buds were still displayed in plastic jars. An owner who is often at the store tweezed whimsically named strains into small vials for customers.

The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the prestigious group behind calls for more research. The nation's largest physicians organization, with about 250,000 member doctors, the AMA has maintained since 1997 that marijuana should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive category, which also includes heroin and LSD. In changing its policy, the group said its goal was to clear the way to conduct clinical research, develop cannabis-based medicines and devise alternative ways to deliver the drug.

Swimmer Michael Phelps, who has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history, acknowledged Sunday he had engaged in "regrettable" behavior and shown "bad judgment" after a photo of him smoking what appears to be marijuana from a glass pipe was published in a British tabloid over the weekend.

And so suddenly here's marijuana -- yep, marijuana -- hogging itself another heyday, bolting into the spotlight, all but sashaying back into dialogue and shouting, "Hey, I'm still here." Shadowed in cycles through recent decades while other legal or illegal or performance-enhancing stimulants took turns getting all the hype, marijuana has just hollered in the case of merely the most-decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps.

Stunned by the spread of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, the City Council moved Tuesday to close a loophole that had encouraged their rapid growth. The council also rejected a dozen applications from dispensaries that sought permission to operate despite the city's moratorium and prepared to extend the ban for six months beyond its expiration in September. And a council committee unveiled a revamped proposal for a comprehensive ordinance to replace the moratorium.

The same day the Los Angeles City Council took its first votes to shut down rogue medical marijuana dispensaries, the chamber roiled with city workers who denounced plans to balance the budget with furloughs and layoffs. When medical marijuana advocates had their chance to talk, they seized on the coincidence and startled the council with their message. Don't ban us, they said, tax us. Last week, Councilwoman Janice Hahn proposed to do just that.