City Council Repeals Ban On Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
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Activists Outside of City Hall. (Neon Tommy/Danielle Tarasiuk)
“I think this is a significant victory for people that need medical cannabis,” said 54-year-old Damota, who serves as a caregiver for his wife. “They are not going to be in parking lots...they are not going to be finding some friend of a friend, who knows a guy. You can go to a place, you know the stuff is tested.”
Damota’s wife uses medical marijuana to ease some of the effects of lupus, like arthritic symptoms and stress.
In 2006, his wife’s lupus flared up and her symptoms worsened. Instead of turning to conventional drugs that are used to treat lupus, like quinine, which worsens a patient’s eyesight over time, she switched to medical marijuana in 2007. Damota said she hasn’t looked back since.
In July, City Council voted to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. Before it went into effect in August, business owners and activists gathered 50,000 signatures requesting the repeal of the ban.
The City Council, in recognition of the massive out cry, decided to vote on the issue instead of it being in the March 5th ballot.
Jirair Yektazarian, 21, has cerebral palsy and uses medical marijuana to help get through his day.
“If it wasn’t for medical marijuana I would be living in an enormous amount of pain,” said Yektazarian.
The repeal does not apply to all medical marijuana dispensaries; it only includes about 120 dispensaries that were in business before a moratorium passed in 2007, which banned new medical marijuana clinics from opening.
Yamileth Bolanos, 57, operates PureLife Alternative Wellness Center, the oldest dispensary in Los Angeles County, and is the president of The Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance, the oldest marijuana trade association in The United States.
Bolanos advocates for a limited immunity ordinance for dispensaries, which will allow only the dispensaries open before 2007 to stay in business. She says the dispensaries that opened after the moratorium proved to be a huge financial burden for those who operate legally. The illegal dispensaries have also caused overpopulation—there are 762 dispensaries registered with the city of Los Angeles according to The Los Angeles Times.
“The overpopulation of illegal medical marijuana dispensaries has been a financial burden on those of us who have been here since the beginning,” Bolanos said. “So, financially the city really screwed us for not taking care of this problem earlier.”
Other activists agree with Bolanos, but also remain concerned about the possibility of the federal government shutting their dispensaries down. In recent months, the federal government cracked down on medical marijuana dispensaries, despite local laws allowing them.
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“We have to keep fighting on,” said Valdez. “The federal attack on dispensaries here in Los Angeles is premature. We have to pass a limited immunity ban to preserve safe access and then the federal government can come in later once the law is clear.”
Bolanos agreed.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “We need to go to the state level and make one law for everyone, so that the federal government can’t attack us anymore.”
Damota said he was confident that last Tuesday’s vote would be the final step in making medical marijuana accessible for people like his wife, who use it for certain health conditions.
“I think it’s over, I think the people spoke,” Damota said. “I think that any politicians who want to run in this town are going to know better than to try to make something illegal that the people want here.”
People at City Hall like Cindey McCurdy, a casting director and breast cancer survivor, cheered the City Council’s decision and focused on the victory won that day.
McCurdy was grateful for medical marijuana in her recovery from breast cancer. She said it allowed her to “keep a meal down” after her chemo treatments and helped her feel less “sad and pitiful” while sick.
