FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Open Letter to the City of Los Angeles 

Public Safety Committee

By Alexandra Datig of Nip It In The Bud USA

June 7, 2012

Dear Honorable Members of 

the Committee on Public Safety:

The City of Los Angeles Committee on Public Safety should follow the direction of the Planning and Land Use Committee and ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.  Since the passage of California Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, the drug lobby has established much false promise regarding medical use of marijuana.  At its inception, Prop. 215, a state law, has been in conflict with federal law, causing reckless rebellion and lawsuits against government entities who looked to restore order from the blight and illegal activities marijuana dispensaries have brought to Los Angeles communities.

Much damage has been done and worst of all, the notoriety marijuana has gotten in the press and in the community, has raised the curiosity of young people.  This is the real tragedy and we are not seeing marijuana advocates and the drug lobby speaking out against youth use.  The only thing dispensary operators and the drug lobby care about is their agenda, regardless of the message it sends to young people.

Medical marijuana advocates confront the City of Los Angeles with 70 lawsuits brought by marijuana dispensaries, crime and endless minutia and harassment.  The marijuana dispensaries must go!   The city cannot afford to keep meddling and negotiating with these federally illegal establishments that have no regard for the message they are sending to young people.  Therefore a vote to ban dispensaries and storefront pot shops is urgent.  The City must act now!

Sincerely,

Alexandra Datig

Authorities: Doctors Share Blame for Medical Marijuana Violence

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Los Angeles is left with No Choice other than a Ban on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

The City of Los Angeles has had an enormous problem with medical marijuana dispensaries.  L.A. has been a national joke for several years now because it is said that the City has more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks coffee shops.  

In a full council vote, to take place as soon as next week, L.A. is hopefully going to join more than 175 cities and 13 counties with banning the unsightly and troublesome pot shops. 

A look at some of the text in a proposed ordinance, approved by the City’s Planning and Land Use Committee, shows appalling evidence that this is a situation totally out of control and that something must be done about it.  According to Los Angeles City Clerk’s office records and a recent report by the Los Angeles Daily News, L.A. is also fighting 70 lawsuits brought by the marijuana drug lobby Americans For Safe Access and dispensary operators who were asked to close because most opened without the City’s approval.  

Here’s part of the Ordinance:

WHEREAS, commencing in 2007, according to local media reports and neighborhood sightings and complaints, more than 850 medical marijuana businesses randomly opened, closed and reopened storefront shops and commercial growing operations in the City without any land use approval under the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC or this Code) and, since that time, an unknown number of these businesses continue to randomly open, close, and reopen in Los Angeles, each with no regulatory authorization from the City;

WHEREAS, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has reported that, as the number of marijuana dispensaries and commercial growing operations continue to proliferate without legal oversight, the City and its neighborhoods have experienced an increase in crime and the negative secondary harms associated with unregulated marijuana businesses, including but not limited to, murders, robberies, the distribution of tainted marijuana, and the diversion of marijuana for non-medical and recreational uses;

Source Link (See Ordinance): http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2011/11-1737-s1_rpt_cpc_5-25-12.pdf 

Lastly, in this CBS news report, one Councilman says he thinks the City’s plan for a “gentle ban” is heartless and that 100 dispensaries should remain open.  The gentle ban being that the city would allow a very limited number of legitimately and seriously ill patients to grow marijuana at home in a group of no more than three.  In my opinion, California Proposition 215, which was enacted by voters in 1996 is a bad law to begin with and should be taken off the books.  The L.A. gentle ban however is in accordance with what Prop. 215 suggests.  

City officials should always keep in mind, that marijuana is a federally illegal, banned substance under the Controlled Substances Act and that even a gentle ban is illegal in the eyes of the Federal Government.

Rock Center Investigative Report Shows Pot Laws Being Badly Abused

For the full story click here

Oaksterdam University: Raid by Feds, No Surprise

Today’s raid of Oaksterdam University and museum by federal agents, the U.S. Marshall and the Drug Enforcement Administration should come as no surprise to anyone. In fact, many have known, it’s been a long time coming, because under Federal law, possession, cultivation and sale of marijuana is illegal.
Richard Lee, founder of Okasterdam and financier for a large part of California Proposition 19, has been pushing a duplicitous drug legalization agenda and it’s about time someone held him accountable.
First, he made the cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes, under the guise of Proposition 215, into populist movement of provocateurs, who for the most part could care less how marijuana legalization efforts affect our society. Then, Lee bankrolled the failed ballot measure Proposition 19, which asked voters to legalize pot for recreational use, in violation of federal law.
It doesn’t take an expert on drug policy to recognize, that what people call medical marijuana today, is not really a product mostly sold to those who have “medical necessity.” Instead, those who want to get high are hiding behind the sick, so they can raid the “medicine cabinet”, pretending they are patients, when in fact they have no serious medical necessity at all. I know it, they know it, we all know it; today’s medical marijuana is a sham and we would be better off isolating the truly ill, of which according to statistics there are few, and abandon the idea of “medical marijuana” once and for all.

Why California Marijuana Laws are the Laughing Stock of the Country

Did you know Frisbee throwing is more dangerous than pot possession in the County of Los Angeles? Yep, it’s true! Last week, the County of Los Angeles created an ordinance on things you could and could not do at L.A. beaches. One of the things that stuck out like a sore thumb was the fine of $1,000 for throwing a Frisbee. This was not to be believed!

Under California state law, marijuana possession of an ounce or less costs a $100 fine and after passage of S.B. 1449, possession no longer goes on the offender’s record, it is now considered an infraction. With all due respect (yes, I am gritting my teeth), thank you Ex-Governor Schwarzenstoner!

Residents quickly saw the Frisbee throwing law as greedy cash hoarding by the County and when the media caught wind of it, the County reconsidered (CBS, 2012). Only a day later, the County announced that now when someone throws a Frisbee on the beach, they could face a fine for $100 for the first offense, a $200 fine for the second offense and a $500 fine for the third offense. That’s five times more than the fine for pot! Hey, while we’re at it, why not send Frisbee throwers to jail for a year, on the fourth offense, for felony Frisbee throwing? Might as well!

This is a sad and laughable example of how marijuana, a Schedule I drug, that causes impaired driving and has high potential for abuse, is viewed as so innocent that a Frisbee ends up being the greater threat. If this is not an example of unintended consequences of drug decriminalization in California, I don’t know what is?

Guess if anyone gets caught with a Frisbee, they should just blame their dog and say; “Hey! That’s not my Frisbee! I don’t know how that ended up here? Ask my dog, maybe it’s his!”