With an explosion of Los Angeles medical marijuana storefronts - 143 of them, more than half in the San Fernando Valley - and reports of Grant High School students being targeted for business, Police Chief William Bratton is backing a moratorium on pot-distribution centers.
Bratton and the Los Angeles Police Commission called for the City Council to impose a moratorium on all new Los Angeles Medical Marijuana until they ban dispensaries within 1,000 feet of any school, day-care facility, church or other house of worship.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Federal law enforcement will no longer target Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries in California that operate legally. That means that Southern California and Los Angeles medical marijuana defense attorneys will have an upper edge. For the first time in the history of the United States, Federal laws are no longer going to be used to prosecute a drug crime. President Obama announced during his campaign that medical marijuana prosecutions would no longer be a priority under his administration.
The new policy has a direct effect on the 13 states that have legalized marijuana laws. Of those 13, only California allows for medical marijuana dispensaries operate legally. Until now, the Feds have not acknowledged the existence of Proposition 215 enacted by the citizens of California in 1996. Also called the Compassionate Use Act, Prop 215, allows for those with a medical need to have a doctor “recommend” the use of marijuana to relieve symptoms.
Under a 1996 state ballot measure, the Los Angeles Medical Marijuana clinics can distribute doctor-prescribed marijuana to relieve anything from anxiety to nausea to acute pain. But federal officials consider all marijuana illegal.
Bratton said he supports medical marijuana but believes pharmacists - not storefront operators - should be the ones dispensing pot.
“I am sorry, but the vast majority of these places are using it for recreational drugs, and that’s my opinion,” he said.
With the number of dispensaries jumping from just five in July 2005 to 143 by the end of last year, police say the centers’ tactics have become more brazen, including distributing fliers near high schools and colleges.
At Grant High in Van Nuys, police found medical marijuana fliers on car windshields in August and said they appeared to be ads to get teens high.
The message in the fliers, emblazoned with a marijuana leaf: “It is still legal to own, grow and smoke medical marijuana as long as you do it properly. Qualification is simple, and our experienced physicians are more than happy to help you.”
The Pacific Support Services ad offered “$15 off with flier.” A call to the number on the flier went unanswered.
The dispensaries also have attracted crime, with neighborhood complaints around the centers totaling 110 as of November, police said. Police also note an increase of robberies around the dispensaries.
But medical marijuana advocates say any change in the city’s law could harm patients in need of pain relief.
“This is completely arbitrary and capricious. There is no rational reason,” said Bruce Margolin, director of LANorml, a local marijuana legalization advocate group. “By forcing it back into the black market, you are going to be encouraging more underground use of marijuana.”
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