RESTRICTION: Decision could mean closure of hundreds of clinics in city

By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Updated: 12/08/2009 07:51:56 PM PST

After years of delay, the City Council on Tuesday adopted a cap on the
number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in Los Angeles,
potentially leading to the shuttering of hundreds of the clinics that
have popped up around the city in the past two years.

The council also imposed new rules on clinic locations and operations
that one council member said were so restrictive that they would prevent
any clinics from legally operating almost anywhere in the city.

"Finally, we are getting a handle on this," Councilman Dennis Zine said
after the 10-3 vote to impose the cap.

"What this means is we are sending a message to the ones that opened
illegally that we will be coming to close you down."

The council spent six hours in sometimes-laborious debate Tuesday and
will return to the matter today to consider the final draft of the
ordinance.

The council's principal action was to set a goal of having 70 clinics in
the city, while allowing the 137 that opened under the city's original
provisions to remain in operation.

Councilmen Ed Reyes, Bill Rosendahl and Tom LaBonge opposed the cap.

Officials estimate the city has 800 to 1,000 clinics - most of which
have opened in the past two years as the council considered ways to
regulate them and imposed a temporary moratorium that most clinic
operators ignored.

Dispensaries and clinics that opened without city permission will be
given a grace period to close down their operations.

"If they don't, we will be there to close them down," Zine said.

But Councilman Paul Koretz warned that other limitations - banning
clinics within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, libraries and residential
zones - will result in an unofficial ban on the clinics.

"There is no place in my district where a clinic would be allowed to
open because the residential zones come up right against the
commercial," Koretz said. "What we are doing, in effect, is saying we
will not allow these."

Medical marijuana clinic operators and advocates have been fighting the
council's efforts and have threatened legal action if the city tries to
ban the sale of medical marijuana.

"We want to emphasize that the sale of medical marijuana is legal not
only in Los Angeles, but across California," said Joe Elford, chief
counsel for medical marijuana advocate Americans for Safe Access, in a
written statement. "We are prepared to take this issue to the courts, if
necessary, to show that Los Angeles and other cities may regulate the
sale of medical marijuana, but they cannot ban such sales."

Reyes, who chairs the Planning and Land Use Management Committee,
acknowledged it will be difficult for the collectives to open in parts
of the city.

"This definitely diminishes the areas that would be eligible," Reyes
said. "But we can come back and address that at a later time if there is
problem."

Rosendahl said he believed the issue would be resolved only when the use
of marijuana is legalized in the country.

"It's a shame we can't see it legalized like it should be so we wouldn't
have to go through all this," Rosendahl said.

Councilman Jose Huizar had sought the cap of 70 - two for each planning
district in the city - but agreed to allow the others to continue to
operate.

During the debate, council members went over issues ranging from
eliminating private groves where marijuana is being grown to fill the
need of the clinics to the siting of the shops.

Los Angeles Police Department Commander Pat Gannon said the agency wants
to eliminate the private groves and require the clinics to grow the
marijuana on site.

Gannon also said the department believes it will need to assign 14
officers, working full time, to enforce the city ordinance at an
estimated cost of $1.3 million.

One additional problem noted was what officials called "the gap" with
how the clinics get the marijuana to provide to their collective's
members.

"They could be breaking the law to comply with the law," Councilman
Bernard Parks said.

Deputy City Attorney Jane Usher said it was an issue raised in a court
case.

"It could be something that will continue to be reviewed by the courts,"
Usher said.

Several council members - Parks, Jan Perry and Herb Wesson - raised
questions as they sought tougher provisions on the opening of
dispensaries.

"If we don't have protective language, it will flip this ordinance,"
Parks said. "All you have to do is drive the thoroughfares in older
communities and see the problems this would create. We need protections
for communities with large industrial areas where we have multiple
uses."

The council members also voted to require limits on the pay of clinic
operators to what is considered "reasonable compensation" for similar
nonprofits and the work experience of the operators.

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