A recent California Supreme Court ruling coupled with several initiatives on the ballot for Los Angeles’ upcoming mayoral elections leave the future of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles uncertain.
The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday to give individual cities the authority to ban all medical marijuana dispensaries within their borders, upholding bans that already exist in about 200 California cities. Monday’s ruling gives the Los Angeles City Council the option to ban medical marijuana dispensaries entirely if voters reject all three of the initiatives on the ballot that seek to regulate medical marijuana, said Bridget Freisthler, a UCLA social welfare professor.
One of the initiatives, Measure F, would allow unlimited dispensaries in Los Angeles as long as they submit to city audits, test cannabis for toxins and keep a certain distance from schools, parks and other dispensaries.
Proposition D, which is backed by many members of the city council, would limit dispensaries in Los Angeles to those established before 2007, limiting the number of dispensaries to 135 and cutting the number of medical pot shops in Los Angeles by about 25 percent, according to Freisthler. She said it would also impose an extra tax.
Finally, Ordinance E would also decrease the number of dispensaries but without any added taxes. Some backers of Ordinance E, mostly older dispensaries, have since shifted their alliance to Proposition D.
The L.A. election will take place on May 21. Voters can currently submit mail-in ballots.
Councilmember Paul Koretz, who is responsible for Council District 5, which includes Westwood, has put his support behind Proposition D.
“There needs to be some regulation as well as a way to let people who are sick have access to this form of medication,” Koretz said. He added that his work with Santa Monica AIDS patients who relied on medical marijuana to treat their pain moved him to become involved with the issue.
The Farmacy, a dispensary located in Westwood Village, often provides medical marijuana to oncology patients from the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Because The Farmacy was established before the 2007 cut off date, it will be allowed to stay open whether any of the initiatives pass or not.
“We have always felt that there have been a lot of rogue shops which is not good for the reputation of (dispensaries),” said Susan Leahy, manager of The Farmacy.
She added that she believes that the dispensaries that are newer do not always follow the regulations and taxes that well-established dispensaries adhere to, which gives them an unfair advantage.
Proponents of Proposition D contend that stores in the area would also create less competition and possibly help improve business.
But proponents of Measure F discredit Proposition D as the beginning of the end for medical pot shops in Los Angeles, Freisthler said.
Many supporters fear that giving the government too much control over regulation will lead to harsher restrictions in the future, she said.
Still, the outcome of the initiatives remains to be seen.
“It all really depends on how the vote goes,” Freisthler said.
The initiative with the most votes will pass as long as it receives more than 50 percent of the vote.
If none pass, it is possible that the city council will try and ban medical marijuana dispensaries all together, a move they tried last year, Freisthler said. The council had to later repeal the ban after a group of dispensary supporters collected enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot to overturn it.
If a ban is put in place again, the city may switch to delivery medical marijuana services, a system is already in place in Davis where medical pot shops are banned, Freisthler said.
With contributing reports from Maritza Cardenas, Bruin contributor.