LA City Councilmembers Will Decide The Future Of Medical Marijuana
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Los Angeles City Councilmembers will vote Tuesday on the future of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.
Various leaders of city organizations and neighborhood councils gathered Monday to ask councilmembers to put the interests of the communities first.
City Councilman Jose Huizar backs a proposal that would shut down all marijuana shops throughout the city.
But supporters of these shops are hoping officials will consider Councilman Paul Koretz's proposed ordinance that would limit the number of dispensaries without outright banning them.
"There's two competing proposals: the one by Jose Huizar is the one known as the 'gentle ban', which I think is actually a vicious, heartless ban, not a gentle ban," Koretz told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO in May. "That one would say that you have to find the marijuana seeds yourself and then grow it yourself, which is practical for virtually nobody."
The plan Koretz endorses allows 100 clinics to remain open and operating while working with regulators toward providing medical marijuana under state law while still complying with city guidelines. The open shops would receive limited immunity and would be under special restrictions about where they could operate.
At the beginning of this month, the Second District Court of Appeal in California issued a decision affirming the legality of medical marijuana dispensaries under state law in Los Angeles County.
