MEDICAL POT SHOPS APPEAL TO CITY COUNCIL

Owners and Patients Rally at City Hall After 75% or Registered Stores
Are Disqualified

Incensed by the city's determination that just a quarter of the
registered Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are qualified
to remain open, about 80 operators and advocates held a subdued rally
Tuesday and then trooped into City Hall to demand that the council intervene.

The protest's only speaker was Don Duncan, a Los Angeles resident who
is the state director for Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy
organization. Standing on a planter next to placards that went unused
and donuts that went uneaten, he exhorted those in the small assembly
to call their City Council members.

"I say shame on the council for letting this process go on
autopilot," he said. "Don't be discouraged. Don't be cynical. Stand
up and fight some more, and we're going to win this."

The city clerk's office has decided, based on legal advice from the
city attorney's office, that 128 of the 169 registered dispensaries
applying to remain open are ineligible. Many were eliminated only
because they had added managers since they registered with the city
in 2007. A little-noticed requirement in the city's medical marijuana
ordinance, which became effective in June, requires the same
management. Among those hit by the provision were many of the most
politically active dispensary operators.

The rally's organizer, Yamileth Bolanos, who runs PureLife
Alternative Wellness Center and heads a group of registered
dispensaries, brought the activists to their feet with an impassioned
plea before the City Council. Bolanos, who said she is a three-time
cancer survivor, has had a liver transplant and has diabetes, high
blood pressure and ulcers, has added managers to help her in the last
three years.

"How am I supposed to run my collective alone? Who in the hell did
you guys think was running my collective when I was here talking to
you guys, trying to make you understand?" she shouted, her voice
shaking. "Do not let us down. I'm begging. I'm begging you. Do not
let us down today."

Councilman Ed Reyes, who oversaw the creation of the ordinance, said
he will meet with city officials to discuss its implementation. "It's
a living document," he said. But he said he was wary of interfering
with the winnowing process. "Weeding out who is legitimate is very
difficult," he said.

Bolanos said she was disappointed by the small number of supporters
who turned out. "I think it's awful that there's so much lack of
concern by the patients of Los Angeles," she said.

Heather Boswell, who cradled a Jack Russell terrier she has as a
service animal for emotional support, said she uses marijuana for
manic depression to balance the medication she takes. "My motto is I
don't get high, I get even," she said. She noted that the ordinance
restricts patients to one dispensary and said the one she has come to
rely on, Cornerstone Research Collective, was declared ineligible
because of management changes. If it closes, she said, "I will be in
a very bad situation."

Michael Backes, who runs Cornerstone in the Eagle Rock neighborhood,
predicted that many pieces of the complicated ordinance would not
stand up in court. "When this thing ends up being chopped up with
scissors by the Superior Court, the City Council is going to have to
step up," he said.

The city has sued the ineligible dispensaries and asked Los Angeles
County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr to rule on whether the
city's procedure is legal. About 80 dispensaries have also sued the city.

Councilman Jose Huizar, who led the effort to put a cap on the number
of dispensaries, said, "There's going to be a lot of kinks in any new
legislation." He said the city attorney's office has advised the
council to let the court cases proceed.

"Look, we have to see what the judge rules," he said.

He said he believed Los Angeles would end up with sufficient
dispensaries. "When all the dust settles, medical marijuana patients
will have access," he said, "but we're going through an uncomfortable time."