Los Angeles voters OK move to curtail medical marijuana outlets

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Voters strongly supported a ballot measure to sharply curtail the number of medical marijuana dispensaries permitted to operate in Los Angeles while boosting taxes on the sale of pot for health reasons, election returns early on Wednesday showed.

The proposal appeared headed for passage. Returns showed 63 percent of voters supporting it compared with 37 percent opposed, after tabulation of more than 40 percent of ballots cast at polling stations on Tuesday, and all of the mail-in ballots received as of last Friday.

Two rival measures seemed likely to be defeated, with "no" votes far surpassing "yes" votes for each.

At least 800 storefront medical cannabis shops are estimated to be operating in Los Angeles, more than in any other U.S. city, and some residents have complained that the dispensaries are a blight on their neighborhoods.

Proposition D, placed on Tuesday's ballot by the City Council, would cap the number of dispensaries allowed to remain open at 135, said Rigo Valdez, director of organizing for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, a union that supports the measure.

The UFCW has sought to expand its reach into the state-sanctioned marijuana industry by organizing dispensary workers. Many of the shops permitted to stay in business under the Proposition D already have union ties, according to the UFCW.

Despite the prospect of greater city controls, campaign officials say many medical marijuana dispensaries have joined the push for local regulation in an effort to gain legitimacy and stave off a potential federal crackdown.

California was the first of 18 states to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes. But pot remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. law, and a number of dispensaries in Los Angeles and elsewhere have been raided or forced to shut down by federal authorities who said the facilities were fronts for large-scale drug trafficking.

Under Proposition D, taxes on medicinal pot would be increased from $50 per $1,000 in gross sales to $60 per $1,000 in gross sales.

Valdez said the push to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the city reflects "a community outcry" over proliferation of the facilities.

"I think that if the city attorney and the city of L.A. says, 'We've got this,'" that the federal government stays out" of enforcement in Los Angeles, he said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and W Simon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-voters-ok-move-curtail-medical-marijuana-105425960.html

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