LA adopts amendments
The Los Angeles City Council approved amendments to its Medical Cannabis Ordinance (MCO) on Friday, paving the way for full implementation of the controversial measure this summer. The City Council removed the two-year sunset clause and provided additional protection for patients’ medical records. The most significant changes, however, involve how the city will determine which patients’ associations are eligible to register. It seems no one is happy with the compromise designed to work around a Preliminary Injunction blocking enforcement of some provisions of the ordinance.
Original language adopted in January of last year would have created a “Priority List” for placing collectives in one of thirty five Community Plan Areas. However, the Priority List was based the time and date collectives registered pursuant to a 2007 moratorium on new facilities. That moratorium was deemed illegal under the injunction, leaving the city with no list ranking collectives in the competitive bid for limited space. City Council Members looked to Long Beach for a solution, and opted for a lottery to select one hundred collectives in priority order for locations.
Collectives that opened after September 14, 2007, cannot enter the lottery, which will almost certainly result in new litigation. But collectives that can prove operation before the grandfathering deadline are also unhappy. The lottery does not guarantee them a spot on the list. Until now, the regulations have always offered some degree of preference to collectives that complied with the flawed 2007 moratorium. The new lottery amendment adds to a sense of betrayal and alienation – especially because it comes on the heels of the city’s decision to sue many of the pre-deadline collectives wrongfully deemed ineligible to register under the previous version of the MCO.
All twelve City Council Members present on Friday voted for the amendments. City Council Member Ed Reyes acknowledged that “this is not fair to many of the operators who are doing the right thing,” but listened again to advice from the City Attorney’s office. Special Assistant City Attorney Jane Usher told Council Members the lottery is legal, a position that will be tested in numerous lawsuits already filed in Long Beach. She also warned Council Members that they had to act quickly to avoid another rapid expansion in the number of collectives in Los Angeles.
City Council Members are fatigued and frustrated. Now it will be up to the courts to decide if the “do something, even if it’s wrong” approach stands up to legal scrutiny. In the meantime, patients and caregivers will probably start the complicated and expense process of registering under the amended MCO and hoping for the best in the lottery. Let’s hope enough navigate the obstacle course to provide access to medicine to tens of thousands of legal patients in Los Angeles.
Let’s also hope the amendments, flawed as they may be, are enough to stop and Effort by City Council Members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry to ban collectives outright. The perception that medical cannabis is out of control following the Preliminary Injunction adds fuel to the growing backlash. Bad media coverage and neighborhood concerns could push some moderate Council Members away from their multi-year commitment to regulations. That is exactly what happened last year, when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors abruptly reversed course and banned patients associations I the unincorporated areas of the county. If these amendments take the wind out of the sails of the pro-ban minority, there may be a silver lining after all. (See “Backlash” posted earlier).
