Marijuana Dispensaries Should Be Allowed, City Attorney Trutanich Says In About Face

By Dennis Romero Tue., Feb. 5 2013 at 1:15 PM

Categories: WTF

Dank Depot

Strange days when the city's most-outspoken critic of medical marijuana dispensaries does an about face and says 100 or more should be allowed to operate.

L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who's running for reelection, had argued vehemently in the past that California law leaves no room whatsoever for the kind of retail pot stores we have in the weed-shop capital of America.

Now he says, let them be:

Trutanich today announced he's endorsing a ballot measure being put forward by City Hall to counter at least one other that is headed for the May polls as a voter initiative.

The City Council measure authored by Paul Krekorian would raise taxes on pot shops and allow the 100 to 180 retailers that existed before a fall, 2007 city moratorium on dispensaries to essentially carry on so long as they follow certain rules.

The council approved putting the measure on the same ballot as two other pot-shop initiatives in May, but a final vote from the body is required.

Interestingly, after arguing until he's blue in the face that L.A.-style pot shops aren't allowed under the state's medical marijuana laws and court rulings, Trutanich called the City Council measure "legally defensible."

Zen Healing

Trutanich has said that for-profit marijuana retailing was never intended under California law, that only the nonprofit sharing of pot for and among the serious ill was intended.

That argument was refuted by the guy who wrote the law, ex-Sen. John Vasconcellos, who said profit-taking was discussed by lawmakers and permitted.

Trutanich's office then told us, sure, but courts have knocked down that part of the law, SB 420.

Here's a 2010 statement from Trutanich:

The law ... does not allow collectives or so-called 'dispensaries' to sell marijuana or otherwise unlawfully operate a highly profitable commercial enterprise under the cynical guise of purportedly providing medicine to patients.

Now Trutanich says:

Trutanich

The Koretz-Wesson measure would protect patients and neighborhoods. It is legally defensible - and I strongly recommend that the council vote today to put it on the ballot and that voters support it in May.

One competing initiative, put forth by the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance and other groups representing those pre-fall-2007 dispensaries, is quite similar to the City Hall measure. So GLACA says its abandoning that measure and throwing its weight behind the City Council's proposal.

The third initiative would allow most of the 1,000 or so dispensaries in Los Angeles to remain so long as they paid slightly higher taxes and adhered to certain rules such as background checks for operators, tight security and decent hours of operation.

[Added at 6:03 p.m.]: Trutanich's camp says he has always supported access to medical marijuana for patients who need it.

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

Tags:

City Attorney, initiatives, marijuana, Trutanich

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john.schwada

There’s nothing “strange” at all about City Atty. Trutanich’s support for the Koretz-Wesson medical marijuana (MMJ) plan. The LA Weekly’s argument to the contrary may be eloquent but it is illogical.

The Trutanich administration supports – as it always has - making medical marijuana available to legitimate patients in need. That office has opposed – as it always has - the sale of MMJ to teenagers and others for recreation uses. Such uses are illegal. The sale for recreational purposes is clearly not permitted under existing state law (Prop. 19 was solidly defeated by voters last November). Recreational sale was not sanctioned under the 2010 ordinance Trutanich helped write that was approved by the City council. Nor would it be sanctioned under the proposed Koretz-Wesson plan. Both these plans seek to regulate MMJ dispensaries that are selling to legitimate patients.

The LA Weekly’s use of quotes to describe a so-called Trutanich flip-flop is illogical: Trutanich, as the quotes actually prove, supports marijuana for legitimate patients, as Prop. 215 and the Compassionate Use Act provide, and opposes its sale for recreational use.

As a wise man once said: “Mr. LA Weekly, I can explain it to you until I’m blue in the face but I sure as helI can’t comprehend it for you.”

When Trutanich took office he faced a problem of runaway medical marijuana dispensaries. One on every corner. More of them than Starbucks. Within six months Trutanich's office wrote and the council approved a MMJ ordinance.

That 2010 ordinance looks very much like the current Koretz-Wesson measure. There’s no Trutanich flip-flop here, only Trutanich consistency.

That 2010 ordinance was declared constitutional by a state Appeals Court last July. Trutanich’s office made those winning arguments. The 2010 ordinance - like the Koretz-Wesson measure – also contains a provision devised by Trutanich that requires that all MMJ sold in Los Angeles be safety-tested for contaminants in state-certified labs.

The Koretz-Wesson MMJ plan is not perfect. But the only way for us to move in the direction of “better” – maybe not perfect – is for the state legislature to clear up the gross ambiguities in the state’s MMJ laws and expressly permit the sale of MMJ for the purpose of medical treatment only. That would give the locals and the courts some clarity.

Unfortunately, the state legislature has failed to lead on this issue.

Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris several months ago remarked on the legal confusion in state law and sternly criticized the state legislature for failing to fix the MMJ problem, telling the lawmakers it was time for real solutions - “not half-solutions.” The LA City Council a few months ago also practically begged the state legislature to fix the conflicts in the MMJ laws. These appeals have been greeted with stony silence from a spineless and dysfunctional legislature.

Michael Feuer, now running for city attorney, was in the state legislature over the past six years when the medical marijuana situation reached crisis levels and leadership was needed to clarify the law.

But Mike Feuer was AWOL when real, practical solutions were needed. We never heard a peep out of Feuer about solving this problem – happening in his backyard, on his watch. Not a peep.

The leadership failings of Mike Feuer were further underscored by the California Supreme Court justices this week during a hearing on a lawsuit testing the notion that cities could ban MMJ dispensaries – whether operating legitimately or not. The justices noted that state lawmakers had left a giant loophole in the law.

That loophole appears to permit jurisdictions to enact flat-out bans, within their borders. Such bans will hurt, not help, real patients from getting access to marijuana for medicinal purposes. Such bans will create virtual MMJ tourist destinations, like LA, where MMJ is available.

LA is trying to deal responsibly with the bad hand that was dealt to it by Mike Feuer and his careless, irresponsible, problem-dodging Sacramento buddies. Now it looks like LA’s “reward” for trying to find a balanced ordinance may be that all the problems associated with MMJ dispensaries could fall on LA’s shoulders when neighboring cities get their bans okayed by the court. And from the news accounts it looks like that that’s where the court is going.

When that day arrives, we can all say: Thanks a lot state legislature. Thanks a lot Mike Feuer. Thanks for screwing up again.

John Schwada, dir. of communications, Trutanich for City Atty. 2013

Bob_Stern

Bravo to Trutanich for recognizing the realities of certain members of the public's medical conditions, while balancing that with protecting the general public from over saturation of these "Farmacy's." We need more sensible moderates like him in public office. I wish him good luck with this.