FEAR AND LOATHING IN EAGLE ROCK

Even With New Regulations, Some Doubt the World of Medical Marijuana
Will Become Any Less Hazy

They had all the momentum; riding the crest of a high and beautiful
wave, so to speak. But in a little less than two months, dispensary
operators in Eagle Rock, where the medical marijuana trade has
reached a high-water mark, may see that wave finally break and roll back.

For the past two years, dispensaries have flourished in this
northeast corner of Los Angeles as part of a grand and unofficial
experiment that tested both the limits of the law and perception -
one that will for the most part end under the city's new medical
marijuana ordinance.

A community of just 34,000 souls, Eagle Rock has seen the number of
dispensaries double to about 20 since 2007, which some observers say
is as much due to dispensary bans in adjacent Pasadena and Glendale
as it is to a legal loophole big enough to stick a blunt through that
allowed dispensaries to open despite a moratorium throughout Los Angeles.

But even as a crackdown appears imminent, evidenced by what some call
the overzealous antics of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office,
which in January won an unprecedented injunction to shut down one
Eagle Rock collective, there's a rising sentiment that the ordinance
will only make matters worse for dispensary operators, their patients
and the community.

"It seems like this ordinance will have a negative impact on Eagle
Rock and every other area of Los Angeles, because if the collectives
don't serve the patients, we're very worried the black market will
fill in," said attorney Stewart Richlin, who represents about 200
Southern California dispensaries.

There's even fear among some community leaders that the ordinance,
which will prohibit dispensaries from operating within 1,000 feet of
schools, churches, rehabs, homes and other so-called "sensitive
uses," will force dispensaries and their patients into undesirable
commercial or industrial areas where crime festers.

"That doesn't strike me as humane, reasonable or in any way in the
spirit of the law," said Stephan Early, president of the Eagle Rock
Neighborhood Council.

The ordinance also ultimately seeks to reduce the Los Angeles' bounty
of 700-plus dispensaries to 70, which Early likened to city officials
cutting bait in what could be a sizeable revenue stream for a city
budget riddled with deficit.

"It seems amazing to me that we have draconian budget cuts to
education and all city services and, on the other hand, we have a
river of unaccounted money," Early said.

But still others say any action to reduce the number of dispensaries
is welcome in a community that for too long has lived with what - in
the opinion of Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley -
amounts to illegal drug sales that tarnish the community's image,
said Michael Larsen, the Neighborhood Council's safety director.

Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die

In September 2007, nearly 11 years after California voters approved
the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the Los Angeles City
Council passed an interim ordinance that placed a moratorium on new
dispensaries beyond the 186 already in operation at the time. But one
section of that law - and a general lack of enforcement - allowed
hundreds of new dispensaries to open across LA after claiming a
hardship exemption.

Eagle Rock was no exception. About three-quarters of the dispensaries
now in operation there either claimed a hardship exemption, opened
after the council denied the exemption or simply flung open their
doors despite the ordinance, testing LA City Attorney Carmen
Trutanich's contention that retail sales are not permitted under
state law. In January, the council eventually removed the hardship
exemption at the request of Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents Eagle Rock.

A month later, a judge struck down an extension of the interim
ordinance that the council passed over the summer, but county and
city officials vowed to continue their crackdown.

That they did when one collective, Hemp Factory V, quietly opened on
Colorado Boulevard last year after its exemption was denied. A judge
granted the city attorney an injunction in January blocking sales at
the location under state drug laws, as well as under another law
requiring proper labeling of food, drugs and cosmetics. Lawsuits
against other dispensaries in other parts of the city followed,
multiple eviction letters went out from landlords renting to
dispensaries, and a few operators were carted off to jail for what
authorities called illegal marijuana sales.

If Eagle Rock's dispensary operators fear they may be next, they're
keeping quiet about it; none of the dispensaries operating in alleged
violation of the interim ordinance would comment for this report. But
other operators rue the day the other shoe may drop.

"On our side, we don't have to worry about anything," said Pastor
Garcia, manager of Colorado Quality Pain Relief Collective, adding
that the outlet is one of the 186 that will be eligible to register
with the city once the ordinance takes effect. "But I don't want to
see any other collectives shut down. We're in a recession and we're
losing jobs. It doesn't make sense."

Technical questions abound as to how the city will actually reduce
the number of dispensaries. Larsen, of the Neighborhood Council, said
he has suspicions that much of it will be a police response. "I think
it has been very frustrating for all of the enforcement agencies to
stand by and not have any ordinance or law to stand on as far as
enforcement," Larsen said.

While approved, the ordinance will not take effect until the City
Council OKs about $1,200 in fees dispensary owners must pay to
operate. Council members could act on those fees Friday. The
ordinance would take effect about a month after that.

However, Americans for Safe Access, an Oakland-based nonprofit
backing sensible medical marijuana policy since a spat of federal
raids on patients in 2002, and two collectives asked a judge in March
to declare it unconstitutional. The judge has yet to rule.

Greener Horizons

Even with new regulations in place, the Neighborhood Council's Early
doubts the world of medical marijuana will become any less hazy.

"Part of the problem is the ambiguity of the law and the lack of
reasonable legal guidelines," Early said. "But all of that kind of
becomes moot, because in November we're going to vote on whether it
should be legal."

Indeed, Californians will get their say on the issue by way of the
Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 on the November
ballot. If it passes, the initiative will allow adults 21 and over to
posses an ounce of pot and cultivate the herb in a 25 square-foot
area, while letting local governments tax sales.

While law enforcement groups say legalization would only add to
existing societal woes, supporters say it is clear that the herb is
safer and has less of an impact than alcohol. Plus, added Garcia,
"California needs cannabis to at least help out the budget."