LOS ANGELES MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES COULD FACE CLOSURE

The City Council Plans to Start Reviewing Requests for Exemption From
a Moratorium Enacted in 2007.

With hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles
operating in violation of a moratorium, the City Council will start
the process of shutting some down Tuesday by voting on exemption
requests filed by 16 dispensaries.

Most, if not all, of the requests probably will be denied because the
dispensaries did not register with the city by the moratorium's
deadline in 2007. A denial would allow the city to take legal steps
to force them to close.

The city allowed 186 dispensaries to stay open under the moratorium.
But since then, 533 dispensaries have asked for exemptions after most
opened without waiting for permission. That triggered concerns from
neighborhood activists.

The first set of dispensaries targeted by the council were selected
because council members believe they are "creating a negative impact
on the community," Councilman Ed Reyes said.

Reyes, who heads the committee that oversees the moratorium, promised
this week to start reviewing the exemption applications. The council
has ruled on none, which has hampered enforcement. The city
attorney's office says it would be hard to make a case that a
dispensary should be shut down if it had an exemption request pending
before the council.

"I'm pushing as hard as I can because I am really bothered that we
are in this predicament," Reyes said.

Stewart Richlin, a lawyer who filed one of the exemption
applications, said the dispensaries simply followed the advice of
city officials who informed them that filing an application would
allow them to remain open.

"The City Council dropped the ball," he said, noting that it still
has not adopted a medical marijuana ordinance.

Since Tuesday, when Reyes announced that he would work through the
applications, 25 more dispensaries have filed for exemptions. The
council also will vote Tuesday on whether to stop allowing hardship exemptions.

The council will consider these dispensaries: Atwater Alternative
Care Collective, LA Collective, Friendly Collective, Global Meds
Collective and Accurate Services Medical Dispensary in Atwater
Village; House of Kush, Hemp Factory V and American Eagle Collective
in Eagle Rock; the Vapor Room in downtown L.A.; Green Leaf Collective
in El Sereno; Bulldog Cafe Collective in Hollywood; New Age Wellness
in Venice; Aloha Spirit Organic Consumables in Reseda; West Coast
Holistic Institute in Canoga Park; The Grasshopper 215 in Woodland
Hills; and Hope Collective in Winnetka.