Dennis RomeroMost of you want to limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in town to 135 or less. So says a USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/Los Angeles Times poll of 500 likely voters conducted last week and released over the weekend.
That means that you're probably favoring the City Hall-sponsored Measure D, which would do just that and shut down as many as 9 out of 10 pot shops in town. The poll, however, is flawed:
It asks which statement voters agree with, putting a “cap” on the number of dispensaries or “no limits” on pot shops.
That's not really how it's going to work on the ballot. Measure D would indeed impose a cap; it would also shut down most shops in town. Measure F, its main competition, does impose regulations, including an increase in city tax, background checks for operators, business hours and maintaining distances from schools.
As its backers would argue, that's not “no limits;” They also say shops would be shut down under the ordinance, just not as many as would under D.
Credit: Susan Slade photography for LA Weekly
Perhaps to measuring possible support for F, pollsters focus on a proposed tax increase, from $50 per $1,000 in sales to $60: 54 percent support that too. (Both measures, D and F, contain this tax hike).
Latinos (57 percent) are more likely to support the “cap.” They're also more likely (60 percent) to support a tax hike.
Of course, what voters will see before them on Tuesday are D (shut down most shops), E (a mirror image of D, abandoned by its backers as they fled to support D) and F (regulate dispensaries but mostly let them be).
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