In Los Angeles- Medical Pot Proposal Erases Compassion

"Council backs medical marijuana sales, might adopt cap on dispensaries"

"November 24, 2009 | 6:07 pm
Dispensaries will be allowed to continue selling medical marijuana, the Los Angeles City Council decided today as it considered a draft ordinance that may also cap the number of shops in the city between 70 and 200."

"he council stripped out language that would bar sales and replaced it with a provision that would allow "cash contributions, reimbursements and compensations" for actual expenses, as long as they comply with state law. The law has been interpreted differently by medical marijuana advocates and law enforcement officials.

"We have some very elegant and flexible language that will adjust as state law is defined," council President Eric Garcetti said, explaining how the council decided to finesse the complicated legal issue."

ref:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/medical-marijuana/

"Medical marijuana and caregivers"
November 27, 4:52 AMSanta Cruz County Drug Policy Examiner J. Craig Canada

"The highly publicized debate regarding medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles has focused on The California Supreme Court's decision in People vs. Mentch and the contention by Los Angeles City Attorney ... that this decision makes sales of marijuana to medical marijuana patients illegal.

Actually, that's not what The California Supreme Court concluded on Thanksgiving 2008. Instead, the court went through some truly embarrassing rhetorical gymnastics to conclude that providing marijuana to medical marijuana patients is not enough to qualify as a caregiver under The Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

If this ambush of both the spirit and letter of the law is not found to be in error, the courts will eventually conclude that providing marijuana is not providing for the health and safety of medical marijuana patients and, in complete and utter defiance of Proposition 215 and the will of the people, that marijuana is not medicine. A detailed discussion of the decision will be found at the end of this article, but first a little history about the case and the setting in which it occurred."

"...The Opinion
In People vs. Mentch, the California Supreme Court ruled (a full dozen years after the passage of Proposition 215) that in order to legally provide marijuana to a medical marijuana patient the provider must, exclusive of and in addition to providing marijuana, also be consistently responsible for the housing, safety, or health of the patient.

Rather than prohibit sales, as claimed by Los Angeles District Attorney... it narrows the definition of who can sell marijuana to a medical marijuana patient to the point that virtually no one can meet the standard.

While claiming to divine the intent of the framers as the narrowest possible interpretation, it completely ignores that California's medical marijuana law is the only one that allows the use of marijuana for "any other illness for which marijuana provides relief". In complete and utter defiance of the law and the will of the people, the court implies that providing marijuana is not providing for the health or safety of medical marijuana patients and lays the groundwork for a determination that marijuana is not medicine or safe..."

the referenced article is a long read but should interest those in law



reference:
http://www.examiner.com/x-14883-Santa-Cruz-County-Drug-Policy-Examiner~y2009m11d27-Medical-marijuana-and-caregivers

It's illegal to sell marijuana, even medical marijuana. It's legal to provide medical marijuana and ask for a donation. Irot's similar to what non-profit museums do. If you go to a non profit museum they have a listed price for entrance, but if you just give them $1 and ask for a ticket, they let you in.

Legally if you belong to a club(that accepts donations for mmj) and ask for an oz of this and an oz of that & when it comes time to pay, you hand them $1.00 then LEGALLY under state law they have to give it to you.

I have serious issues with these LA dispensaries. I am glad they are regulating these fake medical clubs that have made a joke of 215. Mexican pot in a dispensary? What the hell do I want to put that stuff in my lungs. Pesticides on my herb! I bought a pesticide tester, just to see what was going on, low and behold, 10 out of 10 had high residue of shit on my herb. So is this is what will become of our long battle to legalize pot. I have worked for 30 years to get pot legal. And we have corporate ownership of these clubs? One guy owns 4 and another owns 3 and so on. Squeeze the little guy out?
All us old time growers, use only organic and never put shit on our herb. Neem oil and predator bugs. If the crop is bad it gets dumped. I love the herb, but lets keep it pure.
I want it legalize more than ever to help drive down the price and put many of the robbers in the clubs out of business. The sell over the counter and through the backdoor.
All all the people crossing breeds and in the process we are losing some great strains. Kush is great but stop adding blueberry blackberry it kills the taste of Kush. We want to increase yields so much we are losing some great strains.

"L.A. City Council OKs cap on medical marijuana dispensaries"

December 8, 2009 | 3:09 pm

"...the Los Angeles City Council decided today to cap the total number at 70, but to allow those that originally registered with the city to remain open..."

"Under the city's 2007 moratorium on new dispensaries, 186 registered with the city. Officials believe at least 137 of those remain open in their original locations. Under the motion adopted this afternoon, those dispensaries could stay open but could be required to move to comply with the ordinance's restrictions on where they may locate."

reference:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/la-city-council-oks-cap-on-medical-marijuana-dispensaries.html