
The L.A. City Council spent much of the past couple of years in a back-and-forth effort to come up with rules to govern medical marijuana dispensaries.
First, city council members discovered that nearly a thousand dispensaries had opened in Los Angeles after they'd imposed a moratorium on the facilities. It turned out the moratorium had a loophole, and new dispensaries were popping up like... well, like weeds.
The council moved to close hundreds of those dispensaries – and to close loopholes that might let some stay open. They passed a wide-ranging ordinance that governed who could dispense medical marijuana – and where.
The city's new medical marijuana ordinance passed a few months back would have wiped out all but 40. But many owners of legally registered dispensaries complained that they'd followed the city's rules – but still had to close.
Council member Janice Hahn led the effort to pull back the reins a bit. "We felt like our original ordinance needed to be clarified a bit more so that the city attorney does not go after clinics that we think are legitimate."
Now the council is giving final approval to amendments that relax the rules a bit. Hahn says the city's intent is to have about 180 medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally in Los Angeles.
None of them are allowed within a thousand feet of schools and churches. The new ordinance gives dispensary operators six more months to comply.
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