Marijuana dispensaries are out of control in Los Angeles. There are somewhere between 600
and 800 dispensaries now in operation in the City. No one knows the exact number, because
there is basically no regulation in place, and no enforcement of the regulations that do exist. The
LAPD has been told to take a \u201chand\u2019s off\u201d approach to the dispensaries \u2013 even the ones that
opened illegally during the City\u2019s moratorium on new dispensaries.

Consequently, dispensaries have been popping up all over the City. Many of their customers are
people who live in other cities, but travel to Los Angeles neighborhoods to buy marijuana and
marijuana-related products. According to Americans for Safe Access, at least 111 California
cities completely ban marijuana dispensaries. These cities include Beverly Hills, Pasadena,
Glendale, Burbank, Torrance, Lancaster, and Anaheim \u2013 and many people who live in these
cities drive to Los Angeles to buy marijuana.

Community members are gravely concerned about the proliferation of dispensaries in our
communities, especially because some dispensaries have been connected to violent crime, gangs,
and organized crime. The lack of regulation and enforcement threatens both public safety and
the health of our Los Angeles neighborhoods.

dispensaries are commonly large money-making enterprises that will sell
marijuana to most anyone who produces a physician\u2019s written
recommendation for its medical use. These recommendations can be had by
paying unscrupulous physicians a fee and claiming to have most any malady,
even headaches. While the dispensaries will claim to receive only donations,
no marijuana will change hands without an exchange of money.These

operations have been tied to organized criminal gangs, foster large
grow operations, and are often multi-million-dollar profit centers.
Because they are repositories of valuable marijuana crops and large
amounts of cash, several operators of dispensaries have been
attacked and murdered by armed robbers both at their storefronts
and homes, and such places have been regularly burglarized.Drug

dealing, sales to minors, loitering, heavy vehicle and foot traffic in retail
areas, increased noise, and robberies of customers just outside dispensaries
are also common ancillary byproducts of their operations. To repel store
invasions, firearms are often kept on hand inside dispensaries, and firearms
are used to hold up their proprietors. These dispensaries are either linked to

large marijuana grow operations or encourage home grows by buying
marijuana to dispense. And, just as destructive fires and unhealthful mold in
residential neighborhoods are often the result of large indoor home grows
designed to supply dispensaries, money laundering also naturally results
from dispensaries\u2019 likely unlawful operations.\u201d (Emphasis added.)

As illegal marijuana storefronts proliferated wildly throughout Los Angeles, a group of
community activists in neighborhood councils and homeowner\u2019s organizations came together to
research and discuss what should be done to reduce the negative impacts on our communities.
We have agreed that the following 30 Principles should be included in the City\u2019s regulation and
enforcement of dispensaries:

1. There should be a cap on the number of dispensaries in Los Angeles. San Francisco only
has 22 dispensaries, Oakland has only 4 dispensaries, and West Hollywood has only 5
dispensaries. Although Los Angeles has a larger population than these cities, there exists
no compelling rationale for having 600 or more dispensaries, especially when it is clear
to observers that much of the marijuana dispensed is being re-sold for recreational use.
There should be a cap of no more than 200 dispensaries in the City.

3. There should be no grandfathering of dispensaries that opened illegally during the
moratorium. Dispensaries that opened during the moratorium knowingly committed
illegal acts, and should not be rewarded by the City for doing so. Any dispensary that
opened during the moratorium should be shut down within 30 days. It should not
allowed to re-open unless it is approved by a majority of the Los Angeles City Council,
and it meets all other permanent regulations.

4. Each new dispensary (opening after the permanent regulations are in place) should be
required to receive approval of the majority of the Los Angeles City Council before it can
dispense marijuana to anyone.

5. Marijuana dispensaries should be required to go through a Conditional Use Permit (CUP)
process. Each dispensary should be required to re-apply for a CUP every two years, so
that the City and neighborhood can determine if it has created direct threats to public
safety and health. The CUP process should pay for itself, with each CUP application
requiring a set of fees that make it self-sustaining.

6. Failure to shut down an illegal or unregulated marijuana dispensary should be considered
a criminal misdemeanor subject to automatic criminal prosecution, not just a business
violation. Any person who owns, operates, or works at an illegal or unregulated
marijuana dispensary should be arrested and charged with a criminal misdemeanor.

7. The LAPD should have its \u201chands-off\u201d policy on marijuana dispensaries removed. LAPD officers should be allowed to make arrests of any individuals violating the permanent ordinance once it is enacted.

8. Neighborhood Councils must be included in the CUP process for dispensaries.
Neighborhood Councils are the voice of the people of Los Angeles. Each dispensary
should have to make a presentation to its Neighborhood Council, which should then vote
on whether to recommend its approval, or its re-approval, under the CUP process.

9. Dispensaries should be required to have strict security protocols, including security
guards and security cameras. Security cameras should be in use 24 hours a day.
Dispensaries should provide a neighborhood security guard patrol for a two-block radius
surrounding the dispensary during all hours of operation.

10. Dispensaries should have limited hours to prevent them from becoming nighttime
nuisances and public safety hazards. Dispensaries should only be open from 9:00 am to
8:00 pm. If a dispensary violates these hours, the City should immediately take steps to
permanently close the dispensary.

12. No dispensary should be allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of a public school, private
school, library, educational facility, youth center, day care center, youth club, youth
camp, church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or religious facility of any kind. The 1,000
feet should be measured from lot line to lot line.

13. No dispensary should be allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of another dispensary. The 1,000 feet should be measured from lot line to lot line. This regulation will prevent the type of over-concentration that threatens the health of Los Angeles neighborhoods. For example, there are now three dispensaries on a single block of Melrose Avenue (between Poinsettia Place and Alta Vista).

14. No dispensary should be allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of any store that sells
contrivances, instruments, or paraphernalia necessary for inhaling cannabis, including,
but not limited to, rolling papers and related tools, pipes, water pipes, and vaporizers.
The 1,000 feet should be measured from lot line to lot line.