Marijuana Ban's Demise Finalized By L.A. Council Today; It's Over

By Dennis Romero Tue., Oct. 9 2012 at 1:17 PM

Blind Nomad / Flickr

Updated at the bottom: They did it. It's over. The headline has been changed to reflect this. First posted at 8:05 a.m.

The Los Angeles City Council today was expected to pound in the last and necessary nail in the coffin of its own pot shop ban. In other words, it will take a final vote.

Medical marijuana advocates were expected to gloat.

The UFCW Local 770 (which has organized some dispensary workers), the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance, and others who opposed the dispensary ban will be in force at City Hall after the vote:

They'll gather on the west steps of City Hall following the repeal's second reading (the first vote was 11-2, so it seems there's little hope that enough votes would change to affect the final outcome).

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The City Council previously voted to prohibit dispensaries in the city altogether, but pot shop advocates organized a referendum, gathering enough signatures to either make the council overturn its own ban or make it put the issue before voters.

The body decided to do the former.

Yami Bolanos, president of the Collective Alliance, says the next step for dispensaries is to persuade the feds to back off of their pot shop crackdown.

The will of this Council, evident by the ban's repeal, is for limited safe access within our City. We call upon the Federal government to respect their position. We urge them to immediately cease and desist from the threats and intimidation tactics directed at Los Angeles operators and their landlords.

Good luck.

[Update at 1:17 p.m.]: The council did it. On an 11-1 vote, they seconded that emotion, according to our City News Service feed. This thing is over. Councilman Jose Huizar, who was opposed to the repeal and who was the main force behind the ban, was absent.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

City Council, dispensary ban, marijuana, pot shops, UFCW

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abramsrl

We see what it takes to force the City Council to do the right thing -- extreme pressure. A special election would have cost money and there is a good chance that the Council would lose -- if not because people Love Pot but because people Hate the Council.

However, the Council did nothing illegal in repealing the ban and that is a giant step forward. What was this? The first legal city council vote since 2006?

The last thing we need is any government supporting Prohibition. The Med Pot Law did NOT outlaw for Profit Dispensaries. That was merely another lie by our feckless law enforcement types who really don't care what the law says. The situation was way out of hand. Let a poor homeless person end up before some loose judicial canon like Rubin and the courts will waste years and thousands of dollars because the judge decided that the medical marijuana letter written by a licensed physician did not set forth the diagnosis to satisfy the judge's interests. (Gee, where was it written that the judge gets to override medical decisions by licensed doctors? Oh, yeah in the judge's mind.) When you see the travesties that squander the courts' time, over the objections of District Attorneys who plead that they want to handle crimes rather than monitor the drug use of some hapless schizophrenic, you don't fret so much that the superior court budget has been cut. Obviously, some judges had endless time to pursue their own personal crusade against Pot.

Let's go after the real crooks in society -- like the felons running City Hall and raping the City Budget in order to make their pay offs to their developer buddies.

So, let's rejoice that one big step has been taken to lessen the heavy foot of Big Brother on the necks of the poor and ill.

Alleswelling

@the79show So have you been having too many migraines lately? LOL Maybe you need a little hike in Runyon Canyon to look for a cute buzz cut!

the79show

@Alleswelling LOL. buzz cuts are the problem.

Alleswelling

@the79show There is a rumor out our mutual friend has one and we are dieting to hear/see if it is true....

thebludolphins

@LAWeekly Hurrah!

scurvytooth

@LAWeekly I'll toke to that.

thinkfree

Don't bother coming in to work, Jose - it's not like the issue pertains to you or anything.

Kuhreem

As it should be RT @LAWeekly The L.A. City Council ban on marijuana dispensaries officially died today http://t.co/VFIO7wWv

GorgeousGold

RT Where it all goes down! *crosses fingers*“@LAWeekly Marijuana ban's demise to be finalized by LA City Council today http://t.co/MsuOB0Of”

bar288

Consider INVESTING in the full legalization movement with stock symbol MJNA (Medical Marijuana Inc) -- With the most recent polls surging in Washington (37 and 24 point leads) and Colorado (11 point lead), ALL with majority support, there's no telling where this will go in November!