DA to LA: sell medical pot, get busted

Let's recall Steve Cooley and elect someone with some common sense, who will work with the City Council and the will of the people, not against them.

Suggestion: the Council can't change the State law, but I believe it _can_ pass a measure not allowing the use of city money for enforcing it.

As a long-time 'legalise and regulate and tax it' proponent, I can't fault the desire to regulate it. Kids and teens need to be kept away from it---it might keep them from ever being irritated and unhappy, which are states with which one must learn to cope if one is to be an adult. Marijuana is a net-benefit for many people, but no-one should pretend its mother's milk, or that it can't mess you up just because it can't kill you.

But this makes a mockery of putting the measure before the Council; I can only assume that the City Attorney is planning for state office, playing to the large, culturally conservative, population in California that many coastal people forget and of which most outsiders are ignorant.

QUESTION FOR D.A. COOLIE 1: I live in a condo very near the 710 Freeway in Long Beach but I believe my question is applicable to Los Angeles. My condo neighbor has MS. He tried, with my help, to grow pot on his balcony. It grew alright but I would not let my neighbor smoke it because it was covered with a soot that would not wash off under tap water. This is the same soot that gets all over the condo balconies from the 710 truck traffic. Also, I can only grow root vegetables on my condo balcony because aphids abound and I need to use too much insecticide to control them. One of the points made by the English accented representative from the DA's office is that a lot of the dispensaries were distributing pot with harmful chemicals in it. How can the DA be sure that pot coming from the backyards of collective members will be any safer when so many in LA live near freeways that dump pollution all over vegetation or they have a lot of bugs in their area & they overuse insecticide?

COMMENT FOR D.A. COOLIE: From what I've heard the D.A.'s office would like each individual member of a collective to grow his/her six plants and then share the overage from that crop with members of the collective who are unable to grow for themselves. To me this seems unsafe in the following regard. I would rather have one heavily guarded pot growing warehouse or field outside of LA County trucking pot to dispensaries in LA County than I would to have hundreds of LA County residents growing pot on their balconies and backyards. To me, having hundreds of individual growers nested in residential neighborhoods around Los Angeles is a recipe for an uptick in breaking and entering crimes. To me it is safer to have professional growers who have the resources to grow large quantities in heavily guarded remote areas do the growing. I'm not advocating growing in public parks. Aren't there ways to chemically test the pot to see if the soil in which it was grown has the chemical signature of the soil in Yellowstone or Yosemite?

QUESTION FOR D.A. COOLIE 2: Is there a place on the D.A. website where a web surfer can look at statistics comparing the number of nuisance/noise/loitering plus crime complaints that took place on the street blocks on which dispensaries are located in the twelve months previous to the dispensaries opening and the twelve months after the dispensaries opened. I’ve heard representatives from the D.A.’s office say that the crackdown is in response to complaints from residents who live near the dispensaries. If the dispensaries do attract nuisance and crime that should be able to be documented. Where on the D.A.’s website would one look for such documentation?

This guy Cooley is ridiculous! He tells you that people who run collectives will b prosecuted but refuses to define exactly what people will be prosecuted for!!!!

RECALL COOLEY!!!!!!!!!

two points - one crime is at a historic low in LA ocounty - and prisons are over-filled to the breaking point - do you not believe the softening of marijuna laws have contributed to the exceptionally low crime rate in the city - so why pursue something - that though you believe correct under the letter of law - is misguided and entirely self-serving - you are prosecuting a victimless crime - why can't you pursue a crime which the public desires you to control - why not find a way to get to a more beneficial solution for all concerned -

Well played, sir. Now go knock back a few cocktails, smug in the knowledge that you've made it considerably harder for those who need marijuana for medical purposes to get relief.

Does Coolie even want to know the specifics of the law or is he too dependant on his lawyers to think for him?

We would love to see Mr. Cooley and Mr. Trutanich apply the same effort to prosecuting the 12,000 rape cases backed up in the City and County. The clinics are an easy mark. Come on boys, show some integrity.

AREN'T THERE ENOUGH PEOPLE IN PRISON ALREADY. GIVE ME A BREAK

I like Steve Cooley. He's going to enforce the law. "What a concept." He will certainly be challenged and if he's wrong, he will be stopped. But, he sounds right to me.

For anyone looking for legal grounds to challenge the District Attorney's crack down.

First -- discriminatory enforcement. If the LAPD does not have the resources to enforce the laws against ALL dispensaries, defendants can charge violations of 14th Amendment rights. DOCUMENT ALL POLICE ACTIVITY!

Second -- If the police believe that NONE of LA's dispensaries are legal, which is what he said on air, that itself goes to the issue of police discrimination.

Pot should be treated like alchohol. Tax it regulate it and control where it's sold.

RECALL COOLEY!!!!!!!!!!!

To be a bit of a broken record: Cooley sounds like a lot of prosecutors talking tough 'gainst the freaks and the hippies in the late '60s and early '70s to score points with Orange County's solid citizens.

Fortunately, even Orange County isn't what it was...but Cooley sounds like he hasn't changed since c. 1973 when he started in the office---and they call old hippies 'dinosaurs'....

Both Cooley and Trataunich need to be Recalled, if they are intent upon wasting the Taxpayers' money on their Grandstanding exercise.
If they want to make a name for themselves, they would do better to focus on the players in the mortgage and financial markets who gave the Citizens of So CA Great Depression 2.0 and over 15% unemployment. But, they'd probably get that wrong, too, and seek to punish the victims instead of the perpetrators.
They may have law degrees, but those do no make them smart.

I actually LOVE TOM !!!!!!!!

He is absolutely correct. Weed in stores is actually HIGHER at the collectives! These people are getting rich!

Solution: dispensaries that DELIVER!

I am sorry but this second speaker is just shooting blanks. There is no such thing as "almost the same as" being ok. Either you are or you are not. There is no provision to profit from marijuana sales period! Many of these are doing JUST THAT!

If these "store front" retail operations want to operate, they need to go get the law changed to public consumption.

Otherwise, a tightening of who can acquire and who can dispense is in order. There is a current path for accomplishing the task of dispensing marijuana.

This 2nd guest sounds an awful lot like a regular dealer. Is he?

I favor not only medical but public consumption BUT ONLY IF IT IS LEGAL. This guy wants to shortcut the law; he takes a pin and turns it into a steel beam without permission of the law.

I too think we should recall Steve Cooley. Los Angeles has an awful lot of problems to deal with and the sale of Medical Marijuana is not one of them. I say he get his priorities straight or we ought to send on his way.

If we follow the money, it seems banning dispensories will limit competition for the illegal providers--yes?

i am in favor of regulated non profit (they can still cover operating costs and pay employees, non profit does not mean free!) medical marijuana dispensaries. there is crime connected to some of these dispensaries-- maybe not in areas where there is little crime already (affluent areas) but where i live -- highland park-- look at the increase in robberies over the last year between Ave 50 and Ave 57 on York Blvd. where we have two dispensaries. Definite increase in crime. Regulate dispensaries and keep these areas safe.

Either Coolo is either completely stupid or completely brilliant. He as the DA essentially needs to put on a "tough on crime" face to protect against future political attacks which would characterize anything less as "soft on crime." the part where he comes off as stupid is his lack of knowledge that prevents h from even discussing the wording of the law. He knows where this is going and he knows that he is going to lose thus the hardline front.

It will go to the courts. I hope as Tom lamented on air, that after all is said and done that the price of weed goes down.

Megan! The increase in crime is because the economy sucks and you live in hardcore gang area sprinkled with hipsters. There's gonna be strife there!

with all due respect, i feel Cooley and his clones are out of touch with the peoples, how does his expect these high grade MJ make their way to the dispensaries? it take time, money and efford to grow them...
why don't we tax MMJ like the city of Oakland or the state of Colorado?

The arrogance of Mr. Cooley should cost him his job, if not some jail time. Clearly his intent is to do harm to as many patients as possible by forcing them back to the "black market" and back allies for their medicine. This hate mongerer is obviously stricken with "reefer madness", a victim of his own propaganda. The street gangs are celebrating Mr. Cooleys position, as it protects their primary funding source from attack. The end of prohibition is coming just as it did with alcohol, and for the same reason, CORRUPTION !!! .

As a D. A., i thought Mr. Cooley's job is to assist the city and resolve issues like this, after all he gets paid by the city of LA., so work with the people of LA Mr. Cooley, not against!

As the Rastas say, "Jah (God) gave mankind one plant, and man made it illegal." California got some sense and made it legal for medical patients. This is another so-called "culture wars" fight and shows that only young people with integrity will be able to overturn the flawed thinking of previous generations with muddled minds.
Most people know that Cooley's silliness has another purpose--to try to slow down or stop the move towards making marijuana legal for all adults. By demonizing the medical distribution, he must be hoping to use the old fear tactic and talking about mafia, Mexican-drug gangs, etc., which wouldn't work, except we know that disinformation has more power than a corrected report later. This battle will continue and anyone with compassion and intelligence must be vigilant, there are a lot of mean-minded hate mongers out there! Let's try to be courageous until the dawn of a better day arrives.

TAXPAYERS. Why tax weed? It's better to keep it underground and give the mexican mafia the business. Maybe Cooley is paid off by the mexican mafia. Maybe he is paid off by BIG PHARMA. Perhaps its the OIL BARONS who dont want to compete with hemp (can be processed into diesel fuel).

Perhaps hes just a conservative a hole who likes putting brown people in prison, wasting our fiscal resources, and ruining peace loving peoples lives. I dont see many protests about liquor/tobacco stores, I see them everywhere.

And what is this "no profit" thing about marijuana. Why would anyone take the "federal risks" associated with that business unless there was SOME reward? DUHHH , we live in a capitalist world dont we.?

SLAVE NATION.

there are more blacks in prison today, than there were slaves in the united states.
LOOK IT UP.

LEAP Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

For the guy that called and said the collective he goes to charges too much for meds... There a tons of collectives that sell 1/8's for $30 to $50.... you dont have to buy the higher priced strains. If that's what you have to have, try another collective. I think there is a common "market" price for meds and I've found that some of the less expensive meds work even better for my conditions than the higher priced ones.

unemployment hits 12.5 % record breaking

great idea , ban dispensarys 1000 more unemployed
tax dollars , who needs that, the way this city wastes money they dont seem to care
teachers , fireman even the city employees are faced with furloughs
come off it do the math

REVENUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PROPP 215 clearly states "AFFORDABLE"

all this media hype by coolio and his gang of right wingers
the time has come!

GET UP STAND UP , STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
(marley)

a lowering in crime rate in LA. geeze... in Portugal after allowing pot at football stadiums and banning alcohol, the fans, for a change, they ALL got along. Prior to cannabis being legalized, with alcohol only, the fans would kill eachother over a game.. in Portugal.

THE MORAL OF THIS STORY: Cannabis makes people friendlier and nicer people compared to booze.