Author: Dean DeChiaro
Judge Anthony Mohr, who is overseeing the litigation concerning the city’s medical marijuana ordinance, is expected to rule on the legality of many local medical marijuana dispensaries in the next 30 days, according to Jane Usher of the City Attorney’s office. Pending his decision, anywhere from 70 to 180 medical marijuana dispensaries will be legally allowed to operate in Eagle Rock.
Speaking to medical marijuana patients and local citizens at a public meeting last Wednesday at the Eagle Rock Arts Alliance, Usher said, “The dispensaries will operate until Judge Mohr’s decision, and many of them will be operating after that. We want you to have your medicine. You’re patients until we get it right.”
Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents Eagle Rock in the Los Angeles City Council, hosted the meeting to discuss the current state of the city ordinance that will determine the number of allowable medical marijuana dispensaries. The meeting intended to clarify the changing state of the ordinance and address the concerns of medical marijuana patients who worry they won’t be able to get medication, as well as local citizens who feel endangered by dispensaries’ alleged effects on crime in the community.
Huizar, who first advocated the need for government oversights of the medical marijuana business in 2007, said that while he supports safe access for patients to marijuana, he thinks there can be a compromise on how many dispensaries can operate.
“I’ve always believed strongly in a patient’s right to use medical marijuana, but I also believe in listening to the concerns of local citizens,” he said in his opening remarks.
Paul McClouth voiced his opinion that the city’s attempt to limit the number of dispensaries would abandon the citizens of Los Angeles who, like himself, need medical marijuana to curb their pain.
“The only reason I’m standing with a cane and not riding in a wheelchair is because of marijuana,” McClouth said. “In no way are the patients the winners in this argument.”
Huizar responded by urging the community to be practical. “As a city, we could have gone one of two ways. We could have shut it down. But we want safe access for patients who need [medical marijuana]. So we’re going through a difficult time right now, but we’re working on it.”
Huizar and the City Council placed a moratorium on new dispensaries in November of 2007, after the number of stores had grown well above 180 in the neighborhood. They announced in January 2010 that there would be a cap of 70 stores, which had opened before the moratorium, that would be allowed to operate legally, and that others could apply to be “grandfathered” in.
The two issues currently in litigation, which will be decided by Judge Mohr, are the legality of the ordinance and the number of stores that will be allowed to be grandfathered in.
Usher urged that the community be patient with the process. “It’s frustrating, it’s time consuming, but it’s the right thing to do, it’s the way we do it in this country,” she said.
Representing the Los Angeles Police Department at the meeting were Captain Kevin McCarthy, who leads a city-wide task force to crack down on illegal dispensaries, and Captain Dave Lindsay of the local Northeast police station. McCarthy spoke to the audience about the process of shutting down dispensaries operating illegally, and said that despite a widespread belief that local law enforcement agencies are against the use of medical marijuana, the police are solely interested in enforcing the law.
“You know, our chief of police Charlie Beck has come out in support of medical marijuana, and we as an organization believe in it, but our job is to enforce the law,” he said. “The ordinance says that dispensaries opened after the moratorium are illegal. It’s not personal, it’s politics.”
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