What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Marijuana Dispensary Ban Considered at L.A. City Hall Tomorrow

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/05/marijuana_ban_angeles_hearing.php

Marijuana Dispensary Ban Considered at L.A. City Hall Tomorrow

Hope you're getting your rest this holiday weekend.
Because tomorrow's a big day for the medical marijuana scene in Los Angeles. The L.A. City Council's Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) committee will take up all facets of proposed bans on medical cannabis in town.

A complete obliteration of Los Angeles' famous and numerous pot shops is on the table. There are two options that the committee will consider for its endorsement:


1). Imposing a "gentle ban" (PDF) proposed by city Councilman Paul Koretz. According his language it's a ...

... more reasonable approach to compliance could include a limited immunity approach whereby the City proceeds forward with a ban on dispensaries but uses its prosecutorial discretion to abstain from any enforcement action against the limited number of dispensaries that do not violate a set of City Council imposed restrictions. This approach would protect neighborhoods while still assuring limited safe access for patients within the confines of ever evolving case law.
Seems that it remains to be seen how the survivors would be chosen.



Lauren Paulsen
2). Banning all dispensaries until California Supreme Court weighs in on a Long Beach case (Pack v. City of Long Beach) that prohibited that city from regulating pot shops in a way that's being done in L.A. too (PDF).

In any case, a medical marijuana advocate told the Weekly over the weekend to expect "fireworks" at the PLUM committee meeting.

Pot supporters will be out in force.

The meeting starts at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall's Board of Public Works Roybal Hearing Room (Room 350), 200 N. Spring St. Info (PDF).
 

DIDM

Malaika
Veteran
ban the black market, open the doors to a free market god fucking dammit


big pharma needs to be nuked off the face of our precious planet
 

vta

Active member
Veteran
Not good news!

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Kate Linthicum

POT SHOP BAN MOVES AHEAD

L.A. Council Panel Also Advances a Counter-proposal That Would Spare About 100 Dispensaries.

A city Council committee moved forward with a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, approving a recommendation to outlaw storefront pot shops in Los Angeles while allowing small groups of patients and their primary caregivers to grow the drug on their own.

The proposed ban comes after years of legal wrangling over how the city should regulate distribution of the drug.

In 2007, the city imposed a moratorium on dispensaries, but a loophole allowed hundreds of new pot shops to proliferate. In reaction, lawmakers approved an ordinance two years ago that called for a lottery to limit which dispensaries should be allowed to operate.

But City Atty. Carmen Trutanich now says that ordinance should be revoked because it may violate federal law. The turning point was an appellate court ruling last year that Long Beach, which also imposed a lottery, was violating federal law by in effect sanctioning the distribution of drugs.

The proposed ban in L.A. would last at least until the California Supreme Court reviews the Long Beach case.

The ban has the strong backing of Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents the Eagle Rock neighborhood where a heavy concentration of dispensaries has long riled residents. Huizar says revoking the current ordinance would limit the city's liability.

But medical marijuana advocates say the ban would unfairly limit access to the drug for patients who rely on it. They say the small collectives, which would be limited to three people, allowed under the proposed ban would be hard on those who do not have the time or expertise to cultivate the drug.

The advocates support a counter-proposal in which the city would ban most dispensaries but refrain from taking action against about 100 that opened before the 2007 moratorium and can meet a set of other regulations that would limit where they could locate and their hours of operation.

The counter-proposal has the backing of Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who spoke in favor of it at the Planning and Land Use Management Committee. Rosendahl's Westside district includes Venice, where there are nearly as many dispensaries as hot dog shacks.

He said the number of pot shops in L.A. "is out of control," but he said outlawing them outright would create more problems than it would solve because it would force the medical marijuana industry underground.

The committee, which includes Huizar, voted to move forward both the ban and the counter-proposal, although all three of its members said they favor a ban. One of them, Councilman Mitchell Englander, told medical marijuana advocates in the crowd that bad operators at some dispensaries have brought crime and have given the whole industry a bad name.

Englander's Public Safety Committee will consider the issue as soon as next week, after which it will be taken up by the full council.
 

joesilver

Member
But City Atty. Carmen Trutanich now says that ordinance should be revoked because it may violate federal law. The turning point was an appellate court ruling last year that Long Beach, which also imposed a lottery, was violating federal law by in effect sanctioning the distribution of drugs.

States violate federal law right now by allowing medical marijuana, so why is this any different?
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
exactly. wtf are they thinking. this is getting so ridiculous. If cali growers woulda voted yes on prop19 and legalized in 2010 we would not be having this issue. Me and about a thousand other people on icmag said this stupid shit was gonna happen 2 years ago. the pendulum is swinging back. we all saw this coming a mile away
 
"The number of pot shops is out of control" Hahaha, gee, I wonder how many fucking bars there are in LA, where people have gotten drunk, driven their cars and killed somebody. Or gotten drunk, gotten in a fight and stabbed somebody, or gotten stabbed, or shot, or GAHHH what a fucking lost cause of a country..
 

RetroGrow

Active member
Veteran
exactly. wtf are they thinking. this is getting so ridiculous. If cali growers woulda voted yes on prop19 and legalized in 2010 we would not be having this issue. Me and about a thousand other people on icmag said this stupid shit was gonna happen 2 years ago. the pendulum is swinging back. we all saw this coming a mile away

Agreed! The Karma of greed is coming full circle.
The people who voted to keep it illegal are now going to pay a price. And if Romney gets in office, and it looks like he will, all bets are off. He has promised to shut down 100 dispensaries in his first 100 days. Looks like the "war on drugs" is still in full swing.
Hard to believe. Defies all reason and logic. We were making progress, and then people got greedy. Sad.
 

megayields

Grower of Connoisseur herb's.
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Thank you (again) Obama for your continues LACK OFF open-mindedness and complete lack of compassion.
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
(this is just humor. Text doesn't bring out tone of voice.) one day eventually I will probably be diagnosed with a terminal illness. at that point when I know I am gonna die any ways. I'll go out by killing all the politicians that refuse to pass a federal decriminalization bill. V for vendetta style.
 
Last edited:

Darth Fader

Member
exactly. wtf are they thinking. this is getting so ridiculous. If cali growers woulda voted yes on prop19 and legalized in 2010 we would not be having this issue. Me and about a thousand other people on icmag said this stupid shit was gonna happen 2 years ago. the pendulum is swinging back. we all saw this coming a mile away

If you analyze the #'s, you'll see that the voting populations in the emerald triangle are so small that they're inconsequential. It wouldn't have changed anything if they ALL voted yes. What prevented it from passing was scared old people.
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
^ya I guess your right. That makes sense if I just analyze it from your statement. I know that is not pulled out of your ass. I have been up there. there is very few people. there is more scared old people in LA in one suberb than there is people in the entire emerald triangle; and there are more scared old people in all of LA greater metropolitan area than there is growers in the entire country.

good reality check post for me. lol.
 

megayields

Grower of Connoisseur herb's.
ICMag Donor
Veteran
more Obama love coming at yah!

more Obama love coming at yah!

US Targets Landlords in Fight Against Medical Pot
Published: Thursday, 14 Jun 2012 | 6:55 AM ET Text Size
By: Reuters


Twitter
15


LinkedIn
10

Share
Federal prosecutors are targeting medical marijuana shops in California, seeking forfeiture of the properties in which they do business.


Getty Images
Medical marijuana dispensary
The authorities are pressuring landlords to shut down the shops or face possible loss of the real estate through the unconventional and low-key use of a civil statute designed primarily to seize the assets of drug-trafficking organizations.

While some states, including California, have legalized medical marijuana businesses, the federal government does not recognize their authority to do so and has targeted the shops for violations of the 40-year-old Controlled Substances Act.

The goal of the Justice Department's effort, part of a crackdown announced last October, is to fight the medical marijuana industry, estimated at $1.7 billion annually, without confronting it head-on with costly and potentially embarrassing criminal prosecutions, industry sources and legal experts said.

This indirect strategy is reminiscent of the department's attempts, which have met with only limited success, to sever the medical pot industry's access to banking services. Many businesses have found ways around those restrictions, experts said.

"Filing asset-forfeiture lawsuits against these commercial properties is a very clever way to handle an otherwise horribly difficult and controversial situation," said Greg Baldwin, a partner at the Miami law firm Holland & Knight and a former federal prosecutor.

"If you bring criminal charges against these medical marijuana businesses, the federal government gets pilloried in the press for attacking California law and sick people."

Baldwin, who specializes in complex commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense, added that with all four U.S. attorneys in California employing the same strategy, it is clearly official Justice Department policy rather than an anomaly involving rogue prosecutors.

The new approach stems from Justice's difficult position under President Barack Obama, said Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The department cannot rely on heavy-handed criminal prosecutions to combat medical marijuana, St. Pierre said. But it also cannot ignore the issue and risk being labeled soft on drug crime.

"It's being done softly, because if they tried to go the harsh criminal route there is a very good chance they would not only fail but become even more unpopular, something you tend to not want to do going into your last election," he said.

Lawsuits And Letters

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles last week filed two asset-forfeiture lawsuits against buildings housing three marijuana stores in Santa Fe Springs. They also sent so-called warning letters to dozens of area property owners threatening similar legal action.

The letters - only the latest of hundreds mailed to property owners in recent months - gave the owners two weeks to comply with federal law, which prohibits involvement in marijuana distribution.

The civil-forfeiture statute allows the government to seize any real estate used to commit or facilitate drug trafficking.

The provision has traditionally been applied to residential properties used by drug traffickers to grow, store or distribute marijuana. Legal experts say there is no reason it cannot be used against properties that house medical marijuana shops.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the federal government's authority to enforce the national ban on medical marijuana. Still, such enforcement remains unpopular. A Gallup survey last October found that 50 percent of Americans favored full legalization of marijuana and 70 percent favored allowing its medical use to alleviate pain and suffering.


RELATED LINKS
Momentum Swinging Against Medical MarijuanaMaking the Case for Marijuana Legalization
Colorado, a key state in Obama's reelection effort this year, has a medical marijuana law. In November voters will decide on a ballot measure aimed at all-out legalization.

As the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, California has been a bellwether for the industry and federal law enforcement efforts to combat it.

If the move against commercial property owners succeeds in California, it could spread to other states with medical marijuana laws, legal experts said.

For-profit storefront marijuana shops, especially those opposed by the cities where they operate or located near schools or playgrounds, are the Justice Department's favored targets.

Federal prosecutors across California launched a coordinated enforcement campaign in October 2011, stating that California is the top marijuana-producing state in the country and that it exports the drug to other states.

Under the leadership of U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr, the Central District of California, based in Los Angeles, has been particularly aggressive. Federal prosecutors there said last week they have brought a dozen civil lawsuits seeking to forfeit properties housing marijuana businesses.

"Three of those actions have been resolved with the closure of the marijuana stores and court-approved consent decrees in which property owners agreed that they would no longer rent to people associated with illegal marijuana operations, or the property would be subject to an immediate forfeiture to the government," the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Less Manpower Required

The Justice Department's Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, told Reuters that it requires less manpower to combat marijuana businesses by mail and civil actions than it does to bring criminal prosecutions.

"We can get on the Internet, identify a store and have someone drive by and find out if it is operating. That is a whole lot different from conducting a criminal investigation, going out and making buys and conducting surveillance. These are two very different balls of wax," he said.

The letters and lawsuits have "so far been extremely effective in securing the closure of about 200 illegal marijuana storefronts in our district," Mrozek said.

Baldwin, the Miami lawyer, was not surprised. Few property owners are going to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against a government lawsuit to keep a tenant, let alone risk losing their investments, he predicted.

"Most of these things are going to end up with the landlord kicking out the offending enterprise," he said. "It's like a flank attack against these stores that leaves them in the most disadvantageous position possible."

NORML's St. Pierre said the federal government "has not sufficiently broadcast this threat (of eviction) as a deterrent," so a lack of widespread awareness among landlords in California and other states may soften its impact on the industry. He said that when marijuana businesses are kicked out of one property, "they will simply move next door and the whole process, as we've seen time and time again, simply starts over."

Although authorities have made public the strategy of targeting landlords, they have not made a national campaign of it, and so far only landlords who rent to marijuana shops have received warning letters.

US Targets Landlords in Fight Against Medical Pot
Published: Thursday, 14 Jun 2012 | 6:55 AM ET Text Size
By: Reuters


Twitter
15


LinkedIn
10

Share

« Previous Page | 1 | 2
Challenging Evictions

The letters' prospects might also be affected by the weak real estate market, actions by the municipalities where the properties are located, and California's strict eviction laws.

Ken Carter, a property owner who rented commercial space in Murrieta to the Greenhouse Cannabis Club, which opened for business in January, said he soon received a warning letter from the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

Carter said that although he was intimidated by it he was not about to panic, because the value of the property had fallen to roughly half the $1 million he owed on it. Although authorities summoned Carter to the property during a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raid this year, federal prosecutors never took legal action against him. He said he could not explain the lack of action.

However, he said the city of Murrieta, which banned medical marijuana shops in 2005, began issuing a $2,500 fine for every day Greenhouse remained on the property. He said that persuaded him to begin an eviction process, but it took several months to complete. The city has sued Carter and wants him to pay $150,000 in fines, he said.

Eric Safire, a San Francisco lawyer, is representing the owner of commercial property in the Mission District of San Francisco where an existing tenant opened the Shambhala Healing Center, a medical marijuana business that began operating in January 2011.

In late February of this year, the property owner received a warning letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, Safire said. He eventually had to file suit to evict his tenant. The matter was complicated by the fact that the tenant had made substantial improvements to the property before opening Shambhala, Safire added.

Safire said the tenant agreed to end the marijuana business by this July 1. Reuters left a telephone message seeking comment from Shambhala's owner but did not receive a response.

Scaring Banks

St. Pierre likened the campaign to the Justice Department's effort to scare banks away from doing business with medical marijuana outfits.

"There will still be landlords leasing to these businesses, so I don't think it's ultimately going to be successful, just like the effort to thwart the banking," he said.

The DEA began warning banks and credit-card companies away from medical marijuana businesses in late 2007 or early 2008.

Some marijuana outfits have been forced to operate as cash-only businesses, but by and large the industry has survived and, by some expert accounts, thrived by operating through front companies or personal accounts.

High Risk, High Reward

St. Pierre said the federal ban has made medical marijuana a "high risk, high reward" business. Entrepreneurs willing to flout the federal ban can earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars each year, and may be willing to face the challenge of eviction, he said.

Those who fail to heed these measures may face greater sanctions, however. The Justice Department's Mrozek said property owners or marijuana sellers who are not persuaded by warnings and civil action could find themselves in the dock on criminal charges, a fact he said was spelled out in the 220 warning letters dispatched by prosecutors in Los Angeles thus far.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

« Previous Page | 1 | 2

TOPICS:Medicine | United States
PrintEmail



CNBC HIGHLIGHTS
» More: Blogs | Quizzes | Slideshows | Special Reports | Video

For Golf Fans!*
The Sportscope is perfect for spying shots from far away. Fittingly, it's made by Phil Mickelson's dad.

Euro Sunk?*
Maybe not: the European currency's been way down before and resurfaced. Here are a few cases.

Hire 'Rock Stars'*
Alex Churchill, CEO of VonChurch, a digital entertainment recruiting firm, offers his "rock band" strategy.

Bank Hackers*
Small businesses face a danger usually associated with the "big guys": bank-account hackers.

Top Contractors*
Who most fears the "fiscal cliff?" Perhaps these firms: The top 10 U.S. government contractors.

Oil, Gold Trading*
CNBC's Sharon Epperson offers Thursday's trading outlook for oil and precious metals.
ADD COMMENTS
Please Sign In or Register to participate.

Remaining characters

CNBC welcomes your contribution. Please respect our community and the integrity of its participants. CNBC reserves the right to moderate and approve your comment.
 

Storm Shadow

Active member
Veteran
One of my buddies who owns a collective that got the letter recently told me that his lawyer is telling him... word on the low is that the Supreme Court is somehow going to make some ruling within a couple of months that will put the raids to an end and allow him to open back up ... who knows... if that true... that'd be nice... these Feds are acting a fool
 

RetroGrow

Active member
Veteran
If you analyze the #'s, you'll see that the voting populations in the emerald triangle are so small that they're inconsequential. It wouldn't have changed anything if they ALL voted yes. What prevented it from passing was scared old people.

What prevented it from passing was the absence of the youth vote. College aged people stayed away from the election in droves. This is the one group that you would have thought would be all in favor of passing the law, but apathy kept them away. This is now coming back to haunt those in the business who promoted a "no" vote for selfish reasons.
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top