On Monday, local medical marijuana advocates were buzzing about President Barack Obama's new, federal rules for not busting legitimate medical pot dispensaries and an L.A. Superior Court judge's decision to invalidate the Los Angeles City Council's moratorium on pot shops in this city, which never stopped clinics from opening anyway.

Now L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has stepped into the fray.

Yesterday, according to the L.A. Times and Daily News, Trutanich turned over a tough medical marijuana ordinance to the L.A. City Council, which Times reporter Johh Hoeffel describes as “one of the most restrictive” in California.

“Under (Trutanich's) proposal,” Hoeffel writes, “most dispensaries would be required to close immediately and could not apply to reopen for six months. The 186 dispensaries that registered with the city when it passed its moratorium in 2007 would be allowed to remain open for six months, but then would have to meet the ordinance's requirements.”

City council members such as Dennis Zine and Ed Reyes are saying they want to quickly pass Trutanich's ordinance.

“As soon as we get this, I hope to get this on the council agenda and put on the books,” Zine told Daily News reporter Rick Orlov. “We have waited too long already.”

City council members are talking about taking up the ordinance next week, according to news reports.

The rush job can certainly be pulled off, but one city hall insider tells L.A. Weekly that it may involve waiving a public hearing on Trutanich's proposal.

With medical marijuana advocates unafraid of suing the city, expect more legal battles.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com and follow at https://twitter.com/PRMcDonald.
 

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