SMOKE IT IF YOU CAN

LA County supes snuff out medical marijuana dispensaries in Altadena

Medical marijuana supporters decried the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors' 4-1 vote Tuesday to outlaw dispensaries in Altadena and
other unincorporated areas.

A crowd of protesters, some festooned with marijuana leaf-shaped
tiaras, gathered outside the meeting as the supervisors voted to
repeal a restrictive ordinance that regulated where dispensaries could
operate in 2,600 square miles of unincorporated area in favor of an
outright ban. So restrictive was the now-repealed 2006 ordinance that
not a single dispensary was ever approved.

Medical marijuana supporters say the board did not give sufficient
reasons to rescind the ordinance, which regulated dispensaries through
a stringent conditional use permitting process.

Liz McDuffie, director of Pasadena's Medical Cannabis Caregivers
Directory, which trains people to enter the medical marijuana
industry, said the board's decision shows that medical marijuana
supporters will have to rely on the courts to straighten out
regulations that run afoul of the state's voter-approved medical
marijuana law, as they already have on several key issues ranging from
possession and cultivation limits to federal pre-emption.

"This battle will not be won on the steps of City Hall with picket
signs. It's going to be won in the court system, and these City
Council members are going to understand in our court system that their
ordinances do not override state law," McDuffie said. "It's law, the
right of people to have their medicine."

Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose Fifth District includes Altadena
and Pasadena, led the push for the ban.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky twice cast the lone vote against the ban,
saying the focus should be on illegally operating dispensaries. He
also said he'd seen ill friends benefit from using marijuana
medicinally and questioned the need for a ban.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to ban dispensaries in
its unincorporated areas late last month. Dispensaries have been
prohibited in Pasadena since 2005.