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Brendan Huffman: High Times and Misdemeanors in L.A.
On the same day that a new police chief assumed the helm in Los Angeles, a battle waged at City Hall over marijuana dispensaries.
Here in L.A., we have experienced an explosion of such dispensaries over the past four years. While other cities in California acted to limit the numbers of dispensaries, our city council opted to keep punting the issue to avoid having to favor important constituencies over others.
Today, it is estimated that there are approximately 1,000 pot dispensaries in the city of Los Angeles, many of which are concentrated in the San Fernando Valley where I live. One is located just one block from my house, and another is located two blocks from my kids’ elementary school.
For those with chronic pains or facing deadly diseases, I don’t think very many people object to them being able to get relief. The objections usually arise from residential and commercial neighbors who complain about the dispensaries’ clientele, who, in some cases smoke pot inside the store or in the parking lot or loiter in front of the store. Others worry that some stores are a magnet for crime.
According to law enforcement, the pot dispensaries make it easier for drug dealers to buy large quantities of pot locally with little hassle and re-sell it on the street to regular stoners who are too lazy to obtain “recommendations” from doctors. Some dispensaries, they argue, work with drug cartels and gangs to grow and distribute their products, which, unlike drugs sold at pharmacies, are not regulated so that consumers don’t always know just what exactly they’re inhaling.
L.A.’s newly elected city attorney, Carmen Trutanich, and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley have both forcefully argued that the sale of marijuana in California is strictly against the law. Proposition 215, which I voted for in 1996, does not allow for the sale of pot — only the cultivation of six plants per year for medicinal purposes. If cultivation is not practical, another option is to help finance cultivation through a nonprofit co-op.
So far, the L.A. City Council has ignored Trutanich (who in four short months in office has managed to antagonize nearly the entire city council and downtown establishment). And now Cooley, a close ally of Trutanich, has announced he will step up enforcement of his interpretation of the law and shut down every for-profit dispensary in Los Angeles County.
Cooley’s announcement occurred just hours after Police Chief Charlie Beck was approved by the city council and sworn in by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The dispensary dispute puts Beck in a pickle. Does he risk going against the city council on the first crisis on his watch? Or does he go along with the council’s defiance of state and federal laws and allow the dispensaries to stay put? This complicated issue needs leadership.
For many homeowners and pot dispensary operators alike, questions arise about why the city council, which is a full-time job paying $178,000 annually, did nothing while other cities with far fewer resources and part-time officeholders were able to limit dispensaries to just a handful? What happened?
As with other high-profile legislative bodies, L.A. council members have learned it’s more politically expedient to ignore problems than to address them — and we as voters have allowed this to occur. If a complicated problem cannot be fixed quickly and without angering some vocal people, it’s not worth getting involved. Another factor is that half the city council — along with our mayor — will be termed out in 2013, and each of them is either running for mayor or statewide office.
Like onlookers who passively walk by crimes in process, it’s easier not to get involved.
— Brendan Huffman is a San Fernando Valley-based consultant specializing in issue advocacy and association management, and host of Off the Presses on L.A. Talk Radio. This commentary originally appeared on FoxandHoundsDaily.com.
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» on 11.22.09 @ 04:47 AM
We sure let the toothpaste out of the tube on this one. Now try to get it back in you’ll have a riot. Maybe not everyone will be too high.
» on 11.22.09 @ 08:34 AM
Where, exactly, does Prop 215 say “6 plants” or any quantity / restriction? My pedestrian knowledge of the amendment has yet to find these magic numbers that keep appearing in print. Also, my undestanding is that the law allows for reimbursement or compensation for expenses incurred in the growing of the medicine by collectives / caregivers. How, exactly, is the compensation to occur but for the exchange of legal tender? Wampum? Indentured servitude? Sexual favors?
Cooley and Trutanich have lost their power-hungry minds and forsaken the will of the people who put them into office (of which I am one). The City Council blew this from the beginning and thus this Wild West Show has erupted. EVERYBODY needs to take a deep breath, stand down from the rhetoric and look for a realistic solution that solves all of the problems. Look around, other cities have workable ideas that could help form the winner here in LA.
» on 11.22.09 @ 09:15 AM
Pot bought from a ‘dispensary’ is much more expensive than buying directly from a grower.
It’s like buying beer at retail and then taking it on the street and trying to sell it for more than what you paid.
How many pharmacies are in L.A.? They dispense all kinds of very very addictive drugs. Can we please compare the amount of pot dispensaries with the amount of pharmacies?
» on 11.22.09 @ 10:01 AM
Is this true? That dispensaries are illegal and that only co-ops are legal? What do we have in Santa Barbara?
» on 11.22.09 @ 10:24 AM
What’s Cooley (and now Brenden Huffman) talking about, “....no cash transactions”? A.G. Brown’s Marijuana Guidelines mentions collectable fees. And a non-profit can pay its help whatever retention of employees dictates.
http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1601_medicalmarijuanaguidelines.pdf
I’m beggin ya, get a clue, Huffman.
» on 11.22.09 @ 05:36 PM
These gang types that keep showing up near the dispensary. Did they come from out of town to buy pot at that store? No, these are the people that live in Los Angeles. Hey look at all the “gang types” hanging around that taco truck…We need to rid the city of these gang magnet taco trucks asap!
» on 11.22.09 @ 08:19 PM
Tacos are a gateway drug. Just look at all the youths with baggy pants and white t-shirts eating at a taco truck.
» on 11.22.09 @ 11:58 PM
Jerry Brown actually says dispensaries are illegal, so Trutanich and Cooley are right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6N4QHiwLfI&fmt=18.
Senate Bill 420 is where amounts get mentioned, not prop 215. There is still some debate in court as to whether the legislature in California can legally amend prop 215 as they did with SB420.
» on 11.24.09 @ 09:26 AM
The marijuana discussion is not just about medicine, and it’s not about whether 70 dispensaries is a better number than 1,000.
It’s time to drive a wedge between the criminal drug dealers and our kids. Licensing, taxing, and regulating marijuana will put the drug dealers out of business and protect our children. Regulate the marijuana business, medical or otherwise.
While we’re at it, let’s implement a personal cultivation permit. Limit the number of plants, and put a fee on it, something like a fishing license, with maybe a little extra for education or fixing the roads.
How about $100 per year for a permit to cultivate a dozen plants for personal use or to give away the product? It’s a win-win.
» on 11.25.09 @ 09:16 AM
KFI 640AM…what a joke. That Zionist-whooped mindtrap?....where Bill Handle is a lawyer… but he’s not?
Ill take what Brown says on CA letterhead, thank you. And so outlets are made to get non-profit status, BIG DEAL…United Way is non-profit and its prez makes 6 mil a year. The outlets CAN STILL pay employees whatever retention dictates. CASH REMAINS EXCHANGED, EINSTEIN.
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