Letters: Regulating L.A.’s pot shops

Re “L.A. repeals its ban on pot stores,” Oct. 3

L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, my former colleague at Cal State Dominguez Hills, persuaded the City Council to repeal its ill-advised ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, leaving the city without any rules for regulating these enterprises.

Medical marijuana is not going away, and so far the council has not come up with a solution to the problem. Perhaps the council should call for a policymaking group composed of representatives from City Hall, the dispensaries (including patients), communities and the White House.

Why the White House? The president’s recent action on illegal immigration made clear that law enforcement is often a matter of priorities. We probably don’t need 1,000 dispensaries, even in a city as large as Los Angeles. But if we can show the White House that L.A. is capable of regulating the substance as medicine, perhaps the government will take a more permissive attitude toward dispensaries.

Gary R. Levine

West Hills

I am disappointed in the City Council’s flip-flop. I sympathize with patients receiving legitimate treatment for serious illnesses — including Rosendahl, who is battling cancer — but their plight should not have prevented the council from taking on rogue shops.

The rapid expansion of the number of L.A. dispensaries, with no oversight from City Hall, has allowed some of them to operate with little regard for their neighbors. When I shop in Sherman Oaks, I am disgusted that my son and I have to step over ever-present used prescription containers in front of the shop with the green cross.

A ban goes too far, but greater control should be a priority. Most council members seem to lack any understanding of the law of unintended consequences.

Luisa Franco

Encino

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