The city spent years crafting its ordinance governing the operation of marijuana dispensaries and the City Council finally passed it in January 2010. Throughout that time, City Councilmember Jose Huizar pushed for tighter regulations and lower caps on the number of shops allowed to operate--and now he's found a reason to suggest that the city just screw it and ban dispensaries altogether. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled in October that "Long Beach could not regulate a federally banned substance and struck down key provisions of Long Beach's medical marijuana ordinance, which is similar to the City of Los Angeles'," according to a press release from Huizar's office. Shortly after the ruling, Long Beach's city council asked for an ordinance banning pot shops. At the same time, the feds started cracking down on California dispensaries.
Today Huizar is announcing that he's introducing a motion to ban pot shops in Los Angeles. According to City News Service, the motion "would repeal city laws limiting their number and locations until courts settle the issue. A draft copy of the motion asks the state Supreme Court to weigh in." However, it also "calls for the city to reaffirm its support for Proposition 215 [which legalized medical marijuana] and medical patients' rights to grow and consume their own marijuana with a doctor's recommendation."
According to Huizar's release, the Long Beach ruling prohibits lotteries to select who can set up a pot shop, caps on the number of dispensaries, and guidelines about how far dispensaries must be from one another.
· L.A. Councilman Huizar wants total pot ban [CNS]
· This is Your Medical Marijuana Ordinance, Los Angeles [Curbed LA]
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