Marijuana

This was to be the week that the Los Angeles City Council, spurred by a judge's ruling that its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries was invalid, was to take action. But it won't be this week. Or even next week. And it probably won't be the week after. Councilman Ed Reyes, who is overseeing the development of an ordinance on the dispensaries, said Tuesday that he decided it would not be wise to send the draft to the council without trying to resolve several complicated and contentious issues.

Los Angeles County, which has seen a whirlwind expansion in medical marijuana dispensaries this year, has notched another marijuana milestone. The county has moved to No. 5 for the amount seized in the state's annual eradication campaign, with 340,187 pot plants uprooted -- more than a fourfold increase. Statewide, the 27-year-old effort, known as the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, found and destroyed almost 4.5 million plants in 41 counties, up from 2.9 million seized in each of the two prior years' growing season.

As hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries have opened this year in a startling rollout across California, unnerved local officials have started to push back aggressively. Many cities and a few counties have banned them. Others have imposed emergency moratoriums. And some have started to sue dispensaries to force them to close. So far, the state's courts have sided with local officials. For marijuana advocates, who have seen over-the-counter sales become commonplace and watched the steady drift of California's vibrant weed counterculture into the mainstream, these setbacks are a discordant development.

A few miles from Los Angeles City Hall, a small experiment in marijuana regulation has been underway for years. While the state's largest city passed a flawed moratorium, failed to enforce it, debated proposed rules endlessly and watched flummoxed as dispensaries multiplied, West Hollywood pressed ahead. Confronted with its own dispensary explosion in 2005, the city surrounded by L.A. imposed a moratorium on dispensaries, clamped interim rules on the ones that were open, passed a strict ordinance and capped the number allowed at four, all within two years.

Two Los Angeles City Council committees rejected the advice of the city attorney and voted Monday to approve an ordinance that allows marijuana dispensaries to continue to sell the drug to people with a doctor's recommendation. The city attorney's office has maintained for a year and a half that Los Angeles has no choice but to ban sales because state law and court decisions are clear that collectives can only cultivate marijuana.

A half brother of President Obama was arrested for possession of marijuana near his home in a Nairobi shantytown, police said. George Obama, who is in his 20s and barely knows the president, had one joint of marijuana on him, said area Police Chief Joshua Omokulongolo. "He is not a drug peddler," Omokulongolo said. "But it's illegal; it's a banned substance." George Obama has a court appearance scheduled Monday. He and the president have the same father, who died in a car crash in 1982.

Congratulations to Michael Phelps for winning yet another gold medal, not for Olympic swimming but for stupidity. Amid the sea of athletes caught with guns, performance-enhancing drugs, or being involved in other inappropriate behavior, Phelps was a breath of fresh air, excelling on his own merits after learning his own hard lesson concerning a DUI in 2004. He needs to remember that in the public eye of parties, there is always a camera . . . somewhere. Just ask Matt Leinart. Misty Skistad Burnsville, Minn.

A British prosecutor says an elderly milkman supplied customers with cannabis as well as bottles of milk. Robert Holding, 72, delivered marijuana as he made his daily rounds in the town of Burnely, in northwestern England. Prosecutor Sarah Statham said Friday that Holding offered the drug to elderly customers suffering from aches and pain. She says the customers left notes for Holding on their doorsteps to order the marijuana. Holding pleaded guilty and was given a suspended jail sentence of 36 months.

Re "The science of pot," March 10 The Times' editorial urges research on the medicinal use of marijuana. This is a long-overdue policy change. In 1988, I was an attorney who sued the Drug Enforcement Administration over its refusal to allow medical use of marijuana. The DEA administrative law judge at the time ruled in our favor, describing his own agency as "arbitrary and capricious" for denying access to cannabis for medical purposes; he was overruled by the appointed head of the DEA. The research at the time showed marijuana to be safe and effective for cancer treatment, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses.

A home in the Mira Mesa section of San Diego caught fire today when equipment used to grow marijuana malfunctioned, authorities said. The fire broke out in the 11200 block of Ganesta Road shortly after 5 a.m., causing $100,000 damage to the house and $50,000 to its contents, fire officials said. The officials said they found 333 marijuana plants on the premises. Joshua Rasmussen, 28, who was asleep when firefighters arrived, was arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation and other charges.