We May Be Barred From City Council But Our Voices Can Still Be Heard
As many of you may have heard, the big Los Angeles City Council meeting on Tuesday where the Medical Marijuana Ordinance will be discussed, perhaps for the last time, may be a closed session from which the public is barred.
However, you can still communicate your wishes about the ordinance, even though the Council Offices are closed for the week-end.
Messages left on their voice mail will be logged and listened to. Phone numbers for all the council members are below. They all have emails. They are listed below as well. Last but not least, letters have a big effect. It's too late to mail them, but faxing gets it there quicker anyway. Fax numbers are below.
Need talking points? ASA suggests these:
1. The ordinance should not require that all cultivation occur at the collective. Patients and their Primary Caregivers should be able to grow medicine in another safe location and bring it to the collective for use by other members, as allowed under state law.
2. Collectives should be allowed to possess enough medicine and plants to supply members, just like the Attorney general says in his guidelines. Arbitrarily low limits will choke off the legal supply of medicine.
3. The buffer zones between collectives and sensitive uses should be small enough to allow collectives to find a suitable location. A Planning Department report indicates that the current restriction will close virtually every collective, resulting in a de facto ban on safe access in the city. Instead, Councilmembers can adopt the same standard for collectives that they already have for adult oriented businesses – 500 feet from schools, religious institutions, and parks. It is OK to have a larger buffer zone between collectives to prevent clustering in some neighborhoods.
4. There is no need for a numeric cap on collectives. Sensible regulations will keep the number of collectives in check. If City Councilmembers want a limit, they should choose one that ensures an adequate supply of medicine – between 200 and 400 collectives is a good estimate.
5. The process of permitting collectives should be based on the merits of the collective, not on a random lottery. Councilmembers should consider the collectives history of legal compliance and neighborhood relations in their decision.
Council Contact Information
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti
213-473-7013 phone
213-613-0819 fax
email: councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council President Pro Tempore Jan Perry
213-473-7009 phone
213-473-5946 fax
email: Jan.Perry@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Ed Reyes
213-473-7001 phone
213-485-8907 fax
email: councilmember.reyes@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Dennis P. Zine
213-473-7003 phone
213-485-8988 fax
email: councilmember.zine@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Tom La Bonge
213-485-3337 phone
213-624-7810 fax
email: councilmember.labonge@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Paul Koretz
213-213-473-7005
213-978-2250 fax
email: councilmember.koretz@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Tony Cardenas
213-473-7006 phone
213-847-0549 fax
email: councilmember.cardenas@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Richard Alarcon
213-847-7777
213-847-0707 fax
email: councilmember.alarcon@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Bernard Parks
213-473-7008
213-485-7683 fax
email: councilmember.parks@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Herb J. Wesson, Jr.
213-473-7010
213-485-9829 fax
email: councilmember.wesson@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Bill Rosendahl
213-473-7011
213-473-6926 fax
email: councilmember.rosendahl@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Greig Smith
213-473-7012
213-473-6925 fax
email: councilmember.smith@lacity.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Jose Huizar
213 473-7014 phone
213-847-0680 fax
email: councilmember.huizar.org
Los Angeles City Council Member Janice Hahn
213-473-7015
213-626-5431 fax
janice.hahn@lacity.org
