LA City Council to close loophole to file hardship

7:18 PM | June 16, 2009


The Los Angeles City Council had planned today to close a loophole in its ban on new medical marijuana dispensaries, but the logistics of drafting the legislation delayed a vote until Friday.

The moratorium, which was passed in 2007, has inadvertantly prevented Los Angeles from taking legal steps to shut dispensaries that have opened despite the ban. The city attorney’s office has said it can not act against dispensaries that have requests for exemptions pending before the City Council.

Until last week, the council had acted on none of them. That encouraged dispensaries to open and then file for exemptions, knowing that would prevent city officials from shutting them down.

Since the council voted last week to close the loophole by accepting no more exemption applications, another 90 dispensaries have asked for exemptions. So far, about 640 exemption applications have been filed. Last week, the council denied a dozen.

-- John Hoeffel