Results tagged “drugs”

No surprise here, but a vote on the proposed of Los Angeles' medical marijuana ordinance was delayed until next week. There was much discussion at this morning's meeting about how sales is being interpreted within the state law in addition to several proposed changes that must be reviewed by the city attorney's office.

The people of Los Angeles and L.A. County have elected themselves a hot mess. District Attorney Steve Cooley and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich--both elected by the public--believe most all medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal. That's because their interpretation of state law is that marijuana cannot be just sold to those with licenses, but distributed to members of a nonprofit collective of people who carry licenses.

A proposed medical marijuana ordinance for Los Angeles has failed to garner a majority of votes. Today, two committees rejected the fifth proposal submitted in a year and a half time, this one drafted by the recently-elected City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. Proponents of medical marijuana threatened to sue if this draft went through and the majority of councilmembers agreed that it was too prohibitive. The full council could still take up the issue as early as Wednesday, says the LA Times. Around 1,000 dispensaries are within Los Angeles city limits.

The fifth draft of Los Angeles' proposed medical marijuana ordinance (the first draft was submitted in April of 2008) will be discussed at a joint city council meeting this morning at 8:30 a.m. Since 4th draft, which we saw in late October, was released, some changes have been made. Most notably, the City Attorney's office "deleted the unnecessary requirement that collective members provide their names to the City as part of the registration process," says a letter to the City Council. "Their names will continue to be maintained in the collective's own books and records."

As Los Angeles prepares to dive into their own pot law, Long Beach is already taking it head on. Last night they voted to make some changes to a proposed medical marijuana ordinance, loosening some restrictions, before finalizing the law. "The changes included, among others, allowing collectives in mixed-use areas; removing prohibitions against having collectives within 1,000 feet of libraries and parks; improving patient privacy issues so as to not identify every member of a collective; giving a grace period for existing collectives to comply once the law goes into effect; and allowing collective patients to grow marijuana in their homes," reports the Press Telegram.

Remember that draft ordinance submitted to City Council last month (read a copy of it here and scroll down)? Well, it's finally going to a city council committee where it will be vetted, questioned, possibly changed and more next Monday, according to the Daily News. Once and if passed out of committee, it will move to the full city council for a vote.

As Los Angeles fumbles around with the latest proposed medical marijuana ordinance, the Long Beach City Council is set to examine its own tomorrow. If passed, the law would limit where dispensaries may be located, hours of operation, how it can be distributed and records of every member, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram.

The road to legalizing marijuana for all in California takes another step tomorrow. The California Assembly Public Safety Committee tomorrow will hold an informational hearing "on the implications of taxing and regulating marijuana similarly to alcoholic beverages," according to a press release from Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), chair of the committee and author of the legislation.

A superior court judge today told Los Angeles city officials in a preliminary injunction that they were the ones breaking the law, not a medical marijuana dispensary that was told it could not operate under a 2007 moratorium--since extended twice--banning new medical marijuana facilities.

In a major switch from the Bush Administration, Attorney General Eric Holder in a memo today told agencies in 14 states to stop prioritizing raids and cases against those who comply with state medical marijuana laws. It's not a good use of time, the three-page legal memo said, urging that criminals should be the focus of any efforts.

Of all that smoke that clouded the Los Angeles region during the Station Fire, some was of the whacky variety. Sheriff's deputies had identified three marijuana cultivation sites just before the fire began last month and they're sure more sites, unbeknownst to them, went aflame as well.

When Orange County's independent TV station KDOC dumped Cannabis Planet, it wasn't too hard for executive producer Brad Lane to find a willing provider. As of August 13th, the half-hour show has been airing twice weekly on another local indie station, KJLA, which reaches around five million SoCal households, according to the New York Times in a profile of the show.

It's safe to say that weed shops are more common than Pinkberry and Starbucks. Thanks to the LA Times, we know that there's about five "collectives" within a five-minute walk of us (how about you?). And look, the people in the Valley can't complain that their not getting their fair share. In fact, one neighborhood prosecutor told the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council earlier this summer that the LAPD's Van Nuys Division had the most dispensaries than any other in the city. Here are some other interesting facts, via the Times:

Possibly adding fuel to the city's grease fire to get rid of illegal street vendors, a Center for Disease Control report released today tells of an April incident in which pot brownies bought from a bogus church fundraiser ended up in a preschool teacher's lounge sickening several teachers.

Although it was all but official until now, today the Los Angeles County coroner's office "confirmed that it has ruled Michael Jackson's death to be a homicide, caused primarily by 'propofol intoxication,'" reports KNX1070 in a breaking news e-mail alert. The LAPD, the lead agency into the death, also announced this morning that separate investigations will occur into matters uncovered in the death investigation, but do not directly relate to the cause of Jackson's death. Those most likely are the various drugs, prescription included, found at his home and in his body. The Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement will be looking into those aspects. The LAPD's press release is below in full.

Despite what many people think, the police are not always against medical marijuana dispensaries. A legal institution is a legal institution and when said institution happens to have lots of drugs and money inside their business, it's a prime target for robbery. Not many details are out now, but LAPD tomorrow will be asking the press and public's help "to inform the public about medical marijuana dispensary robberies and suspects who are to be considered armed and dangerous," an advisory says. "Police are also asking for the public’s help to identify and locate the suspects." Apparently, some incidents have happened in the West Valley.

The July search warrant affidavit that officials used to raid the Houston offices of Michael Jackson's personal doctor was unsealed today, offering up what has been speculated for weeks: "lethal levels" of anesthetic propofol killed the pop star.

A collective of enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, local police departments and the IRS raided at least two dispensaries on the Westside for unknown reasons this afternoon. Warrants were also served on the private homes of the owners. Organica Collective on Washington Blvd. in Culver City was raided followed by the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles were raided around 11 a.m. and authorities were still searching for unknown things hours later. A dog believed to be a pit bull was shot at one of the locations.

A man police thought to be two separate robbers in the downtown area was arrested this week in Skid Row. Anthony Brown, 42, allegedly began a spree of robberies around July 10th and over the weeks dropped so much weight that his appearance changed leading police to believe there were two bandits out there. Drugs appear to be caper in the weight loss and police have not said if they were specifically used to aid in changing his identity.

It's about time, no? After weeks of rejecting bogus medical marijuana dispensaries, three LA City Councilmembers brought forth a motion to explore a tax on legal medical marijuana sales in the city. “In this current economic crisis, we need to get creative about how we raise funds. A tax on medical marijuana could enable the city to continue providing services we might otherwise have to cut,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. Retired LAPD officer and West Valley Councilman Dennis Zine said "Part of becoming a legitimate business in the City of Los Angeles means supporting local government by paying a fair share of municipal taxes.” Councilman Bill Rosendahl also brought forth the measure. A motion for a resolution in support of H.R. 2835, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, which allows for state law to prevail with regard to medical marijuana use, was also introduced.

The hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that cropped up all over town in the past few years are now facing uncertain futures, as City officials mull the next step in the process to close them down, reports the LA Times. They are working on a short list of pot shops "targeted for extinction by a City Council chagrined that it allowed hundreds to open in Los Angeles despite a 21-month-old moratorium."

The storefronts denied today had all applied for hardship exemptions before it was removed from the city's marijuana dispensary moratorium earlier this afternoon. Only owners from two stores appeared to speak during public comment, noting they were unprepared because notices of today's hearing were only sent out last Friday.

In a unanimous vote by the Los Angeles City Council this afternoon, a loop hole in a medical marijuana moratorium was filled. "Hopefully that will bring this matter to success," said Councilman Dennis Zine, a former LAPD officer. Although a ban on new medical marijuana dispensaries went into effect in 2007, the hardship exemption language created a loophole, prompting over 500 new storefronts to pop up around the city. With today's action, hardship exemptions will no longer be an option for new medical marijuana dispensaries. UPDATE: The six month extension may have not actually gone through, we are awaiting confirmation on that item. Stay tuned...

Since a moratorium went into effect on new dispensaries, the exact opposite happened--more than 500 opened because of a hardship exemption loophole in the ordinance. Today, a few months shy of the moratorium being lifted, the City Council will vote on to whether or not close that loophole, as recommended by its planning and land use committee, and will look at 16 (of the many hundreds) hardship applications, either passing them or denying them.

A motion to fill a loophole in Los Angeles' moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries was approved by a City Council committee today. In 2007 when the ban was set, routine ordinance language provided dispensaries a chance to apply for "hardship exemptions," demonstrating why they should not be included in the ban, even if they had not fulfilled basic requirements like showing proof of insurance, a business tax license and other documents. Around 500 applications have been submitted, according to the city's Council File Management System (search "marijuana") and none of have acted upon, but dispensaries continue to open around the city. The moratorium will expire in September. A copy of today's motion, which should move to the full City Council soon, is below:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal suggest eliminating welfare. If that would happen, California would be the only state without such a program. "You would think they would legalize weed before this," quipped Shane Hirschman, a multimedia designer, on Twitter.

If you want good quotes, you go to LAPD Chief Bratton. He's always been one to be candid (remember his celebrity gossp/analysis?) Well yesterday, he joined Patt Morrision for her show on KPCC and when asked about LA Weekly's April 30th story refuting the LAPD's touted crime statistics, he dismissed it calling the report "voodoo journalism" said writer Patrick Range McDonald and cohorts must have "smoking a little weed when they wrote the article." That didn't sit well with Tina Dupuy at FishbowlLA:

If you've got 11 minutes this lunch hour, this investigative report on city hall politics and marijuana dispensaries is excellent. "Almost every city has gotten its act together and put regulations in place for marijuana dispensaries except Los Angeles," said Paul Lerner, a Melrose area neighborhood activist who voted for Prop 215, but doesn't like the proliferation of dispensaries on every street corner.

Say what? Via the LA Times: "No trace of the medicine HCG was found in Manny Ramirez's system at the time of his drug test, three sources with specific knowledge of the results have told The Times. It was a prescription for that drug, which is a non-steroid but banned by Major League Baseball, that led to the outfielder's 50-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy." Discuss.

Everyone's jaw is dropping here in Los Angeles (holy shit!) while Cubs fans are screaming "suck it, Dodgers!" Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drug and will be suspended for 50 games, according to the Los Angeles Times. His first game back will be July 3rd--in the meantime, outfielder Xavier Paul will apparently be promoted to Manny's position. The official announcement by Major League Baseball is expected later today.