COUNCIL PASSES POT SHOP ORDINANCE

Hundreds Would Close; Those Remaining Would Operate Under Tight
Rules. Enforcement May Be a Challenge.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to adopt a comprehensive
medical marijuana ordinance that clamps strict controls on
dispensaries, which have spread with a velocity that stunned city
officials and angered some residents.

Settling the last controversial issue on its list, the council
decided to require the stores to locate at least 1,000 feet from
so-called sensitive uses, such as schools, parks, libraries and other
dispensaries. The decision to reject a 500-foot setback reflected the
council's intent to write the most restrictive rules that would still
allow dispensaries.

The ordinance, which emerged after 2 1/2 years of debate, will be one
of the toughest in the state. It could douse the city's vivid
anything-goes pot culture, which has been both celebrated and
excoriated. The ordinance bans consumption at dispensaries, requires
them to close by 8 p.m. and outlaws the ubiquitous neon cannabis-leaf signs.

Council members acknowledged that the ordinance is not perfect and is
likely to please no one.

"It's going to be a living ordinance," said Council President Eric
Garcetti, predicting that the body will have to tinker with the
provisions. "I think there is much good in it. I think nobody will
know how some of these things play out until we have them in
practice, and we made a commitment to make sure that we continue to
improve the ordinance."

Although some council members attempted to reopen debate on some
contentious aspects and medical marijuana advocates urged a few
last-minute alterations, council members pressed for a vote.

"Our moment is now. Our moment is today," Councilman Herb Wesson
said. "We've been discussing this for two-plus years. It's time for action."

The council's languorous approach since the issue was first raised in
2005 left a vacuum that allowed entrepreneurs drawn to the lucrative
cash-based business to establish Los Angeles as the epicenter of a
marijuana boom.

The ordinance caps the number of dispensaries at 70 but makes an
exception for those that registered with the city in 2007 and are
still in business. That means L.A. could have about 150 stores.

Hundreds of other dispensaries will have to close, but some are
already laying the groundwork to challenge the ordinance. Dan Lutz, a
co-founder of the Green Oasis dispensary in Playa Vista, heads an
organization that is weighing a lawsuit or referendum to force the
council to put the ordinance before voters. "We're ready on two
fronts," he said.

Medical marijuana advocates would have to collect just 27,425 valid
signatures to force a referendum.

Garcetti said he expected there would be lawsuits because state law,
on which the ordinance is based, is murky and because L.A., as the
state's largest city, is an obvious target.

"Small ones have gotten away with it under the radar. But now that
we're the big one, I think a lot of court cases will come out of it," he said.

But Garcetti said the city had to move forward to assert control over
the medical marijuana outlets. "There's finally some tools for
enforcement to shut down bad dispensaries that don't play by the
rules," he said.

It could be a while before city officials can move to close dispensaries.

The council will vote a second time on the ordinance next Tuesday
because the 11-3 tally fell short of the unanimous result needed to
pass a law on the first vote. (Council members Bernard C. Parks, Jan
Perry and Bill Rosendahl voted against the measure.) And it will not
take effect until the council approves fees that collectives will
have to pay to cover the city's costs to monitor them, which could
take several weeks.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office would not say whether he would
sign the ordinance, but Sarah Hamilton, his press secretary, said he
supports a cap on dispensaries and buffer zones that will "help
protect the safety of our communities while ensuring that those who
truly need medical marijuana have safe and accessible places to get it."

It was May 2005 when Councilman Dennis Zine, a former L.A. police
officer, first raised the issue, introducing a motion that asked the
Police Department to investigate dispensaries. Two months later, the
department reported that there were just four outlets but recommended
that the council adopt tight controls on where they could locate.

Two years later, the City Council approved a moratorium on new
dispensaries; and 186 registered to stay open. In October, a judge
ruled that the moratorium was invalid, leaving the city almost
powerless over dispensaries. That spurred the council to accelerate a
process Zine called a "merry-go-round that wasn't stopping."

With the vote likely, Tuesday's debate drew a crowd. About 50 people
spoke for nearly an hour.

Medical marijuana advocates pressed the council to relax the location
restrictions. They believe a rule that dispensaries cannot be across
an alley from a residential lot will make it almost impossible to
find sites. Several asked the council to create an exception to the
buffer zones for dispensaries that can show they are good neighbors.

"I am urging you to make sure that the good dispensaries are allowed
to stay open," said Richard Eastman, an AIDS patient who has
addressed the council on the issue for years in his boombox voice.

The restrictions adopted by the council could prove difficult for
dispensaries. A city analysis showed that with a 1,000-foot setback
from sensitive uses, most that meet the criteria to stay open will
have to find new locations within six months.

But neighborhood activists, including Eagle Rock's Michael Larsen,
asked the council to stick with the most restrictive approach. "I'm
very relieved that it is pretty much over because it's been a long
road," he said later.

The vote, which followed a thunderclap that briefly stilled debate,
came almost as an anticlimax. It was celebrated with just a
smattering of applause, and Garcetti swiftly moved the council on to
other business.

Councilman Ed Reyes, who has overseen the drafting of the ordinance,
said he believed the council would have to return to some issues,
such as controls over cultivation. "I don't think we are there yet," he said.

The ordinance, which grew from five pages to 17, goes much farther
than others in California to regulate the internal operations of
collectives. It bars them from operating for profit, requires them to
pay employees "reasonable wages and benefits" and rules out bonuses.
It requires them to maintain extensive records and to submit an
annual accountant-verified audit. It prohibits operators from running
more than one dispensary. And it allows people buying marijuana to
join only one collective, though it provides no mechanism to enforce that rule.

The LAPD, already staggered by budgetary constraints, will have to
scrutinize the books to ensure that operators are not making a profit
but just covering their costs. The department has estimated that it
would cost $1.3 million to monitor 70 collectives and would require a
lieutenant, 11 detectives, an auditor and a clerk to do the job.

Once the ordinance takes effect, the city attorney's office will
launch enforcement efforts.

"Our focus will be closing the rogue operators," said Jane Usher, a
special assistant city attorney.

Usher said the city attorney's office would send letters to those
dispensary operators telling them they must close. She said that
based on experience, her office expects that at least a third will
voluntarily comply.

The city could then take the holdouts to court, a process that could
prove time-consuming and costly.