L.A. City Council Passed Ordinance Restricting Dispensaries

The day of reckoning is upon the Los Angeles, California medical marijuana dispensaries. The L.A. City Council, after four years, has voted on and passed an ordinance mainly restricting the number of dispensaries in the area as well as requiring them to be located in industrial areas. "The ordinance caps the number of dispensaries at 70, but makes an exception for those that registered with the city clerk in 2007 and remain in their original locations or moved just once after their landlords were threatened with federal prosecution. City officials believe there are about 150 such dispensaries", according to the LA Times. Every action, as we know, has a reaction and that is exactly what advocates of medical marijuana had. The new ordinance will mark the beginning of years of lawsuits and red tape; which will inevitably turn into more chaos than before. People feel as though their rights are being violated and they're are being restricted from getting their "medicine".

The City Council has also placed restrictions that will end L.A.'s late-night pot scene. Dispensaries will now be required to close their doors at 8 p.m., no more consumption of marijuana will be allowed inside the "pot shops". One other interesting change will be where patients can acquire their "medicine", now patients will be designated to one collective; you will no longer be able to go to any dispensary you want. City Council hopes that the new controls will prevent dispensaries from making a profit. People in Los Angeles are concerned about the crime that dispensaries could potentially bring to their neighborhood. It is interesting that pharmacies, like Rite Aid and CVS, who have much stronger narcotics and are robbed regularly, are not restricted to industrial zones only. But, not much of anything related to medical marijuana makes much sense, perhaps it never will.

The next six months in Los Angeles County will be nothing short of a free-for-all. Dispensary owners will be scrambling to move their shops to designated safe zones, while other owners who will be forced to close their doors will be forced underground. The new ordinance may backfire on the city, when it finds that many people go back to selling marijuana illegally with no restrictions at all - like it was before the medical marijuana debate ever existed. We will certainly be following this story closely as the debate progresses - or digresses.

Here is an interesting video with Kevin Pereira interviews the Executive Director of Harborside Health Center regarding medical marijuana dispensaries and the Los Angeles City Council's new regulations.

Los Angeles City Council Voted Tuesday To Close Roughly 800 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Los Angeles has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement, with more dispensaries in one area than any other city or even state. People have become outraged by the plethora of dispensaries that have over taken their neighborhoods, popping up not far from where children are playing. California has been associated with having the most relaxed laws and being the easiest state to acquire a medical marijuana card - one only need say they require it and Voilà! The so-called "wild west" days of medical marijuana may be coming to an end here real shortly, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to close roughly 800 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the city by passing the first reading of an ordinance which would force 75% of remaining dispensaries to relocate. There will be another vote on Tuesday because this week's vote was 11-3, which fell short of the 12-0 result that an ordinance needs to pass on the first reading.

"The ordinance sets new rules for dispensaries that council members hope will curtail the anything-goes environment that made Los Angeles the vivid epicenter of the money-fueled Green Rush that erupted when the Obama administration announced last year that it would no longer prosecute dispensaries adhering to California's medical marijuana laws", according to the LA Times. Not only will there be fewer dispensaries in LA, but, there will be much stricter laws regarding medical marijuana all together. The new law will put a stop to the late-night pot club scene and will require the dispensaries to close their doors at 8pm. No more smoking or consuming marijuana based products inside the dispensaries. On top of the new rules, dispensary owners will have to keep extensive records on their operations and are not allowed to make a profit; special police units will be put into place to force compliance.

The ordinance will limit the number of dispensaries to only 70. Exceptions will be made but there will surely be many dispensary owners who will try and fight back for their investment. Any dispensary registered under the moratorium and is still in business will be allowed to keep their doors open. It will be interesting to see the battle that ensues in the coming weeks regarding LA's dispensaries, after all, so goes Los Angeles so goes the nation with this debate - or so it seems.

Ecstasy Users are at Higher Risk of Sleep Apnea

On any given night in Los Angeles throughout the club scene people are using various illicit drugs. Drugs, known as "club drugs," include MDMA/Ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), Rohypnol (flunitrazepam), GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), and ketamine (ketamine hydrochloride). There are several other designer drugs out there as well, 5-MeO-MiPT or Foxy Methoxy is one of them, what makes these drugs so dangerous is that they are very difficult to dose. Perhaps the most popular of these drugs, MDMA(3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or Ecstasy); characteristically found in the night club and rave scenes, is a psychoactive amphetamine that has been known to do severe damage to the brain. Scientists who have been researching the effects of Ecstasy have discovered that Ecstasy users are at higher risk of sleep apnea. US News reports, "People who use ecstasy need to know that this drug damages the brain and can cause immediate and dangerous problems such as sleep apnea", study author Dr. Una McCann, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a news release".

How long a person used Ecstasy directly affected how severe their sleep apnea is, according to the study. The study comprised of 71 ecstasy users (or had used) and 62 people, normal non-users. What was determined was the people who had used Ecstasy had an eight-fold increased risk of sleep apnea. Obviously, non-users do experience apnea, at least mildly; mild sleep apnea rates were similar in both groups, 27 % of non-users experienced mild sleep apnea. However, the study showed that 13% of ecstasy users experienced moderate apnea and 1% showed severe sleep apnea. "They also found that ecstasy use was a greater risk factor for sleep apnea than obesity", according to US News.

What is clear is that MDMA or Ecstasy does damage to the brain that may not be reversible. MDMA is not widely understood by scientists, let alone your typical addict; everyday we are seeing what these drugs do to the brain and it is not a pretty sight. "Our findings may be explained by how ecstasy damages neurons related to serotonin, a chemical in the brain that is involved in sleep regulation and breathing, among other important functions", McCann said. "Sleep apnea in itself is dangerous, but it can also contribute to thinking problems in people who use ecstasy because chronic sleep disruption is known to have a negative effect on how a person functions during the daytime". People going out at night for a good time are doing damage to their brain that cannot be repaired.