Referendum Would Challenge L.A. Pot Dispensary Law

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Photo: Monica Almeida/New York Times
A medical marijuana dispensary on Santa Monica Boulevard offers prizes.

​Medical marijuana advocates are gathering signatures for a voter referendum to block a recently passed Los Angeles law that will shut down hundreds of pot dispensaries.

The referendum is designed to overturn the city’s medical marijuana dispensary ordinance before it takes effect in May, reports The Associated Press.
The group is looking for 27,425 signatures by Monday to get the issue on the ballot. Organizer Dan Halbert, who runs the Rainforest Collective in Mar Vista, said it’s going to be close.
Halbert’s dispensary opened last year, and is one of around 700 that would have to close under the ordinance, which caps the number of pot shops at 70.
The law has a loophole for about 128 dispensaries that registered in 2007, before the City Council instituted a moratorium.
Marijuana collectives reportedly outnumber both public schools and Starbucks outlets in Los Angeles.


The dispensaries range from upscale to shoddy-looking, with estimates of their number ranging from 800 to more than a thousand.

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