Re: Putting all of your worries to rest...LA has it figured out!
Los Angeles Marijuana Sellers Limited
Monica Almeida/The New York Times
A medical marijuana dispensary on Melrose Boulevard, one of many throughout the Los Angeles area.
By
JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: January 26, 2010
LOS ANGELES — The
City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday that would shutter the majority of the nearly 1,000 medical
marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and make the use of marijuana in the remaining outlets illegal.
Room for Debate: A New Course on Medical Marijuana?
The vote is a major setback for backers of medical marijuana and a victory for community groups that have long complained about the proliferation of the dispensaries near residential neighborhoods, schools and parks. Los Angeles has more of the outlets than any other city in the dozen or so states that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
“These are out of control,” Councilman Ed Reyes, chairman of the Council’s planning and land-use management committee, who oversaw the writing of the ordinance, said in an interview at City Hall. “Our city has more of these than Starbuckses.”
California voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996, and cities have since struggled with how best to regulate its distribution. Under the law, individuals and cooperatives were permitted to cultivate marijuana for medical use. Dispensaries selling marijuana, often for profit, quickly popped up around the state.
While many cities moved to restrict the number and locations of the legal outposts, Los Angeles imposed a moratorium about two years ago while the City Council studied the issue. But hundreds of dispensaries continued to operate, flouting the ban.
The ordinance requires the signature of Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, as well as a Council vote on dispensary fees, to cover the city’s cost of monitoring.
Late Tuesday, a mayoral spokeswoman, Sarah Hamilton, said that although the measure “isn’t perfect,” Mr. Villaraigosa would sign it “because it puts the safety of our communities first.”
“It’s time to focus our attention on other pressing issues facing our city,” Ms. Hamilton said.
The measure, which passed on a 9-to-3 vote, imposes strict rules on the location of the dispensaries — essentially moving them to more densely industrial zones — and restricts their hours. The ordinance, which city officials acknowledge would be difficult to enforce, will limit the number of dispensaries to 70, but its language suggests that even fewer will be permitted if there is not ample space under the new parameters to accommodate them.
It limits hours of operation to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., imposes several regulatory requirements and limits each patient to one dispensary.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27pot.html?8au&emc=au
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Pffffft...and you old hens were just so busy clucking away about those 'MAYBE/WHAT IFS/The sky is falling' for naught...see Los Angales has it all figured out..."DON'T WORRY - BE HAPPY" 
