The Los Angeles City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee advanced a complete ban on dispensaries in the city. Councilman's Jose Huizar proposal would only limit collectives to three or fewer people, allow them to grow pot and transport it.
Huizar and Councilmembers Ed Reyes, chairman of the committee, and Mitch Englander disapproved of an alternate proposal from Studio City Councilman Paul Koretz to allow 100 dispensaries to remain open until lawsuits regarding medical marijuana laws are settled.
Dispensary supporters included attorney Steven Lubell, who said, "You're cutting off access to the patients, which is against what Proposition 215 says. Instead of totally banning and waiting for the supremes to rule, have some form of regulation that works in the interim."
Others told the council that cultivating medical-grade marijuana took years of education and was a skill most patients simply do not have.
However, the pro-pot testimony was drowned by the rhetoric of the councilmembers.
Englander: "You tell us there are a few bad apples ruining it for everyone, but from what I've seen, there are more bad apples than good ones out there." And separately: "People have gotten hurt, people have gotten killed, women have been raped."
Reyes: "We tried to cooperate but it all ended up blowing in our faces."
The Public Safety Committee, headed by Englander, may take up the proposal next week. If it passes, it will be considered by the full council.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-pot-ban-20120530,0,3547975.story
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20736005/city-panel-urges-complete-ban-all-medical-marijuana
http://studiocity.patch.com/articles/committee-approves-complete-ban-of-marijuana-dispensaries-full-council-to-take-next-step
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