L.A. City Ban on Collectives Temporarily Suspended: Possible Vote in March 13

The City of Los Angeles’ ban on medical marijuana collectives has now been temporarily suspended and could soon be overturned. The ban was supposed to go into effect on Sept. 6. The City Attorney’s office had sent out hundreds of letters to collectives in Los Angeles warning them that if they did not close, they would face civil and criminal penalties, including a $2,500-a-day fine.

What is disheartening is that the city used the tax money it collected from the dispensaries under Measure M in order to fund the operation, which consisted of sending the letters out, and were planning on using the rest of the tax money collected ($2.5 million) to file lawsuits and enforce the ban against collectives that remained open—essentially using the collectives’ own money to shut them down. The city was also threatening collective operators and their landlords with misdemeanor prosecutions if they continued to operate the collectives.

However, patients and advocates were able to halt the ban by gathering 50,000 signatures and submitting them to the city. The 50,000 signatures were more than twice what was legally required in order to suspend the ban and force a referendum. The city has now temporarily suspended the ban while they count and verify the signatures. If the signatures are verified by the city clerk, then the City Council will have to decide whether to repeal the ban outright or place the issue on the ballot next year for a vote by the citizens in March 2013.

If the ban is suspended, the City Attorney’s office has stated that the prior ordinance will go back into effect. The prior ordinance basically stated that no collective can operate unless it was a Pre ICO, meaning it is a collective that’s been in operation since before September 2007. In addition, Pre ICO collectives had to meet other onerous requirements such as being 1,000 feet from schools, parks, churches and other sensitive use areas. The prior ordinance also allowed collectives to register to participate in a future lottery for the opportunity to register should the total number of operating collectives ever fall below 70.

Many collectives registered for this lottery in February 2011. However, the lottery never occurred. The biggest problem with the current situation is that by its own terms, the prior ordinance sunsets, or expires, after two years (on June 6, 2012) unless extended by the City Council. If the Ordinance is not extended, all collectives must cease operation. The City Council, however, never extended the prior ordinance. Accordingly, from the viewpoint of the city, all collectives must still cease operations, even if the ban is suspended. Violations of the ordinance are punishable as misdemeanors. The ordinance may also be enforced through nuisance abatement proceedings, i.e. lawsuits for public nuisance.

At this time it remains to be seen if or how the City of Los Angeles—including the LAPD—will handle the collective situation. There have been reports that LAPD officers in the Topanga district in the Valley are arresting collective operators for having their shops open without licenses. It appears to be a police state at this point with different districts operating in totally different fashions. We all await the Legislature or the Supreme Court’s ruling to give us guidance on what cities and can and cannot do with respect to regulating collectives.

Attorney Damian Nassiri is the founding partner of the Cannabis Law Group, a law firm dedicated to the rights of patients, collectives and growers. His firm offers consultations and nonprofit incorporations to those who are interested in starting their own medical marijuana collective. You can reach Cannabis Law Group at (714) 937-2050 or visit the law firm’s website at www.cannabislawgroup.com.