The States of Colorado and Washington grabbed headlines when voters legalized marijuana in 2012. Seattle Police Department took it a step further, when at a recent marijuana festival, they passed out potato chips with advisories on them. Today, the City of LA took steps to increase regulation of medicinal marijuana dispensaries by approving a resolution sponsored by council member Bernard Parks. Why was that needed when the Department of Justice sent a memo last month authorizing local governments to do just that?
City of LA voters passed Measure D which limited the amount of dispensaries in the city to 135 with the City of LA collecting $60 on every $1000 made. That’s not even 10%! As of today, the federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal substance.
2UrbanGirls always questions why let the states/cities place a measure on the ballot if it violates federal laws? Today, the city council in the city of Los Angeles, backed a resolution by council member Bernard Parks, calling for stricter regulations of the medicinal marijuana industry.
City Council approved Councilmember Bernard C. Parks’ resolution in opposition of Assembly Bill 604 (Ammiano, co-authors: Steinberg, Leno), which would limit local governments’ ability to regulate medical marijuana at the Wednesday, September 11, 2013 Council meeting. Friday, September 13 is the last day for each house to pass bills in the Legislature. A copy of the resolution is attached.
On Friday, September 6, 2013, a new legislative effort was launched in the form of a gut-and-amend action to AB 604. Two previous bills that attempted to clarify marijuana regulation: Senate Bill 439 (Steinberg and Leno) and Assembly Bill 473 (Ammiano) failed to gain sufficient support in their legislative bodies earlier this year.
AB 604 narrows the definition of a dispensary to a retail storefront, which would leave marijuana processing plants, manufacturing locations, etc. out of the scope of enforcement. The bill also does not address potential fraud that could be committed by doctors or the quality and dosage that would designate marijuana as medicine.
In May of this year, voters passed Proposition D in the City Of Los Angeles which sought to limit the amount of “medical marijuana businesses” to no more than 135 (that operated since 2007 and had previously registered with the City).
The Department of Justice issued a memorandum last month leaving state and local authorities in control of policies regarding marijuana enforcement.
With the Department of Justice leaving it up to local authorities to control their own policies of enforcement of the dispensaries, this would explain why those located in the City of Inglewood were recently closed.
The Daily Mail is reporting that both the Justice and Treasury departments are looking for ways to allow medical dispensaries, operating legally, to work with banks for deposits and/or small business loans.
With all the talk of pension reform, would medicinal marijuana provide a revenue stream the cities could use and quiet as kept, desperately need?
