NEWS: Authorities will address medical marijuana rules at City Council session in Long Beach

LONG BEACH — The issues surrounding medical marijuana are still smoldering at City Hall.

After the City Council approved measures to regulate medical marijuana collectives two weeks ago, the matter appeared to be resolved. All that was needed was a final vote to put the council's stamp on it.

But last week, that vote was removed from the council agenda because Mayor Bob Foster wanted to have a representative of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office address some concerns he had about the legal ramifications of the new regulations.

On Tuesday, the debate is back. The council will hear from the DA and law enforcement officials Tuesday before taking a vote.

Will the council change its medical marijuana law or will it sign off on what the majority had already approved?

Foster's concern is that the council, in a split 5-4 vote, decided not to implement any regulations on where medical marijuana must be grown. Two possibilities had been suggested - that marijuana be grown on-site at the collectives, like Los Angeles requires under its recently approved law, or that the collectives grow their marijuana within the city limits, as recommended by Long Beach police officials.

The effects of either of these regulations, or none at all, is still unclear.
As approved, Long Beach's law still requires testing for pesticides and other contaminants on marijuana. If a sample is found to be contaminated, the original plant must be destroyed.

However, this could be unenforceable when the plants may come from anywhere in the United States or even outside of the country.

Some council members who opposed not having any local cultivation requirements also said they were concerned that this would encourage drug traffickers to move into Long Beach to sell through the collectives.

Collective operators, on the other hand, said most collectives don't have the space or the ability to grow all of the marijuana they need on site. Growing their marijuana at an off-site location in town would still create a security risk, they said.

Operators also have spoken out recently about what appears to be a last-minute attempt to alter the outcome of the ordinance, raising concerns that they won't have the same opportunity to make their case that the District Attorney's Office will have Tuesday.

The council meets at 5 p.m. in City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd. The meeting can be viewed live in Long Beach on Charter Communications Channel 3, Verizon FiOS channel 21, and online at www.longbeach.gov.

Want to go?
What: Long Beach City Council meeting
When: Tuesday, 5 p.m.
Where: City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.

Information:The meeting can be viewed live in Long Beach on Charter Communications Channel 3, Verizon FiOS channel 21, and online at the city's Web site.

VIDEO: Sierra Serhan comments on medical marijuana ordinance at LB City Council Meeting - February 2, 2010

VIDEO: Gary Ferris on medical marijuana ordinance before the Long Beach City Council - February 2, 2010

Gary Ferris, a medical marijuana patient of LBPRC, speaks on behalf of medical marijuana collective before the Long Beach City Council - February 2, 2010

NEWS: Inside City Hall - Pot need not be homegrown

Patients will be able to acquire it, smoke it or eat it in Long Beach, but medical marijuana won't have to be grown within the city limits.

In the ongoing drama, confusion and debate over how Long Beach can regulate medical marijuana collectives, the City Council worked out the final points of its ordinance Tuesday.

While one major issue has been how far from schools medical marijuana collectives should be located, the council has been most divided over whether marijuana should be grown at the collectives, within the city limits or have any location requirements at all.

Bucking the recommendation of police officials but giving medical marijuana advocates a sense of relief, the council voted not to place any restrictions on where collectives' medical marijuana comes from. The council deadlocked 4-4 on this point last month, but on Tuesday the swing vote, Councilman Dee Andrews, was back at City Hall.

Andrews said that requiring local collectives to cultivate marijuana locally could be too much of an impediment to getting the medicine to legitimate patients. Also, he said that the multiple warehouses that would be needed to supply Long Beach's medical marijuana needs could cause blight and crime.

Along with Andrews, council members Robert Garcia, Tonia Reyes Uranga, Rae Gabelich and Val Lerch voted to remove the local cultivation requirement.

Council members Suja Lowenthal, Gary DeLong, Gerrie Schipske and Patrick O'Donnell voted against taking out the rule, expressing concerns about where the marijuana might come from and whether drug cartels could use the ordinance to get a foothold in Long Beach.

However, the council left in other recommendations by police officials, including requirements that collectives identify where their marijuana was cultivated, test samples to ensure it is free of pesticides and other contaminants, destroy contaminated plants, and properly label marijuana for consumers.

The ordinance will likely return to the council next week for a final reading, but it is quite possible that more changes will be made to the evolving law.

Source: Press-Telegram

IN THE NEWS: LBPD, DA saying little about search warrants at pot dispensaries

LONG BEACH - Police and prosecutors remained tight-lipped Friday about a series of search warrants served at local marijuana dispensaries Thursday.

The office of Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley confirmed Friday it is working with the Long Beach Police Department on an investigation into illegal sales of marijuana at various medical marijuana dispensaries, said spokeswoman Jane Robison.

"Because of the ongoing status of the investigation we can't say anything else at this time," Robison said Friday.

Long Beach police Cmdr. Laura Farinella confirmed for the Press-Telegram on Thursday that the police department's Narcotics Division was working with other officers on the force and the district attorney's office to serve warrants at several locations that had generated numerous complaints from neighbors about illegal, over-the-counter sales of pot.

Police and the prosecutor's office declined Thursday and Friday to identify the locations that were served in what authorities called an "enforcement" operation.

Officials said more information may be made public in the coming week.

Chris Glew, an attorney representing a cooperative located on Fourth Street at Elm Avenue, said he has yet to see any documentation from authorities who served warrants at his clients' business and home, but he insisted the dispensary has always operated within the state's Compassionate Use laws.

Glew, a criminal defense attorney who specializes in medical marijuana cases, said authorities couldn't have gotten it more wrong when they focused on the Downtown cooperative.
"These guys are the Mother Theresa of collectives," Glew said Friday, noting that the cooperative has pooled its resources to not only provide medical marijuana for its indigent members at reduced costs or free, the group has also helped install handicap-accessible ramps and related items in the homes of a number of its more infirm and elderly members.

He and other owners of local clubs - all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity - said officers served warrants not only at the dispensaries but at the homes of the cooperatives' owners and employees.

"They must have used at least 100 cops and for what? To hassle people who are compliant with a law that police or the DA don't like," said the owner of one local medical marijuana dispensary.

Glew made similar points, noting that the district attorney and the police department "appear to be operating under the theory that everything is illegal, they seem to interpret any collective or dispensary is operating against the voter's initiative."

The initiative outlined by Prop. 215 - the compassionate use act that legalized marijuana for California patients suffering from debilitating conditions and disorders - was passed by voters in 1996.

Patients seek permission to use marijuana from doctors under both Prop. 215 and a follow-up 2003 law, which clarified the original proposition and ordered counties to issue identification cards to patients.

Arguments over how to distribute the drug, however, have simmered on national, state and local levels ever since the 1996 vote.

"All this boils down to a pissing match between the city and Cooley," Glew added, referring to the district attorney's warning last month to Los Angeles city officials as they were discussing a marijuana ordinance for dispensaries in their city.

Cooley said in November that over-the-counter sales of cannabis are not allowed by either of the laws pertaining to medical marijuana.

In previous court cases, Glew said, the district attorney's prosecutors have made it clear to him that the district attorney's position is most of the people using medical marijuana are young and don't appear sick or injured in any way.

Glew, however, strongly cautioned against people relying on how someone looks to determine if they are a patient.

"There are plenty of people suffering with MS or HIV and you wouldn't know it to look at them," he said.

As for the charge about complaints regarding local dispensaries, Glew and other dispensary supporters said Thursday was the first time anyone had heard about complaints.

"I'd like to see some kind of record of the calls or letters or whatever they received," said a manager of one of the cooperatives.

Glew countered that if authorities are really concerned about people abusing the prescription identification system they should focus on physicians wrongly issuing the ID cards rather than the cooperatives, who serve all patients.

Glew, who recently won a case for one of the co-owners of the Downtown Long Beach cooperative who was charged in Riverside, added he is confident his clients in Long Beach will be vindicated as well.

"I work with a lot of cooperatives and this place is probably one of the most heavily checked, they verify all the patient's statements and they are in compliance 100 percent," he said. "To even insinuate (illegal over-the-counter sales were being made) is preposterous."

Source: Press-Telegram

IN THE NEWS: Long Beach Police Search Local Cannabis Dispensaries

LONG BEACH - Police served a series of search warrants Thursday at several marijuana dispensaries for illegal sales of drugs.

The raids, carried with the help of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, began Thursday morning and were expected to take the better part of the day, said Long Beach police Cmdr. Laura Farinella.

Farinella declined to identify all the locations citing the ongoing enforcement, but confirmed that one of the locations was a dispensary located at Fourth Street and Elm Avenue.

The commander said the enforcement operation was put together after authorities received "numerous complaints from the community about illegal over-the-counter sales" of marijuana.

District Attorney Steve Cooley took a tough stand on the issue earlier this fall when the Los Angeles City Council began discussing how it might regulate marijuana clinics in its boundaries.

"Any proposed ordinance allowing for the sale of marijuana is in direct conflict with California's Compassionate Use Act and Medical Marijuana Program," the press release stated.

"The City Council has no authority to amend state law or Prop. 215. Such authority is solely possessed by California voters."

When voters passed Prop. 215, the district attorney's office noted, they voted to provide marijuana for those in medical need only.

While the press release was issued primarily as a result of action being discussed by the Los Angeles

City Council, the office's interpretation of the law applies to all cities within the office's jurisdiction, a district attorney staffer said Tuesday.


Source: Press Telegram

NEW VIDEO: Long Beach Medical Marijuana Draft Ordinance, City Prosecutor Thomas M Reeves

November 10, 2009 Long Beach City Council meeting regarding proposed draft ordinance on medical marijuana collectives. Long Beach City Prosecutor, Thomas M. Reeves, shares his thoughts on the proposed document.

Greggory Moore speaks to Long Beach City Council regarding proposed draft ordinance for medical marijuana collectives (November 10, 2009)

Mr. Rockwell, medical marijuana collective ordinance discussions in Long Beach on November 10, 2009

David Zink, Medical marijuana collective ordinance discussions in Long Beach on November 10, 2009

TWITTER UPDATE: Specials from collectives in Long Beach, California

If you are following us on twitter (@dispensaries) and live in or near the Long Beach area then this may be for you. Over the next few days we are going to be transitioning all patient specials and announcements for Long Beach collectives ONLY to an account that will be dedicated strictly to that. The account for Long Beach collective's specials and announcements will be @lbcollectives.

We are doing this in an effort to enhance our communications and promote a positive web experience for all. There is no reason why someone in New York should have to receive Tweets about specials in Southern California. Hence our decision to dedicate a Twitter account strictly for that purpose.

Be sure to add @lbcollectives to your list of people you follow in order to continue to receive information regarding collectives and specials in the city of Long Beach.

We hope this change is a positive one for everyone! Comments are ALWAYS welcome with an open heart, spirit and mind.