The Los Angeles City Attorney has proposed a plan to close all medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, but to allow patients with a doctor’s prescription to grow, possess and use their own marijuana.

The La Brea Collective, near La Brea Avenue and 8th Street, is one of the dispensaries that closed after the a lawsuit was filed. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Calls seeking comment from City Attorney Carmen Trutanich or members of his staff overseeing the medical marijuana enforcement issue were not returned. A copy of the proposal states that the plan addresses the issues raised in a recent court ruling in the case, Pack v. Los Angeles Superior Court. The California Court of Appeal, Second District, ruled that Long Beach’s medical marijuana ordinance, which is based on the city of Los Angeles’ ordinance, violates the federal Controlled Substances Act, which bans marijuana for all purposes and supersedes any local laws. The city attorney’s proposal was forwarded to the Los Angeles City Council, which is in the process of scheduling a hearing to address whether to rescind the medical marijuana ordinance.

As many as 500 medical marijuana dispensaries may now be operating in the city. In December, the City Attorney’s Office filed lawsuits against nine dispensaries that were operating within 600 feet of schools. Assistant City Attorney Asha Greenberg, who has been spearheading efforts to force illegal dispensaries to close, said at the time that the efforts to crack down are based on complaints by the community. Greenberg also said in December that the office cracks down on specific dispensaries as resources allow, and that the nine targeted by lawsuits were in violation of state law restricting dispensaries from being close to schools. One of the targeted dispensaries that was located in the local area — the La Brea Collective in the 800 block of South La Brea Avenue — has since closed. Owner Daniel Sosa said he plans, however, to reopen at another location that is not within 600 feet of a school.

The City Attorney’s Office’s proposed ban on dispensaries would exclude any location, hospice, health care facility or vehicle being used by a patient with a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana, or their caregiver. The proposal to allow patients to grow their own marijuana is in compliance with California’s Compassionate Use Act, also known as Prop. 215, and the Medical Marijuana Program Act, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

The plan is the first proposal from the City Attorney’s Office that specifically calls for the closure of all the medical marijuana dispensaries that now exist. Specifically how the dispensaries would be closed, and how long it would take, remains unclear. Also up in the air is how Measure M, a law passed by voters last March to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, will be implemented.

Trutanich’s proposal is the latest in a series of twists affecting the city’s medical marijuana ordinance, which took effect in June, 2010. The California Supreme Court will likely decide whether to consider an appeal to the decision in the Long Beach case in February, which could influence any future decision made by the city council.

Any decision may not come soon enough, however, for Fairfax High School principal Ed Zubiate, who added that having medical marijuana dispensaries within a few blocks of the school on Melrose Avenue is unsettling.

“There is a couple down on Melrose, and the people I see hanging around out there don’t look sick to me,” Zubiate said. “Nobody wants that stuff close to a school.”