LA proposes new regulations on marijuana shops
Los Angeles unveiled a new set of proposed regulations Thursday on how and the place marijuana companies can function inside metropolis limits, the newest step towards remodeling its guidelines after Californians voted to legalize leisure pot.
The draft rules would impose restrictions on the place pot shops that promote marijuana to clients on web site can function, limiting them to most commercial and industrial zones and barring them from opening inside 800 ft of each other.
Marijuana retailers would even be prohibited from working inside 800 ft of colleges, public libraries, parks and drug and alcohol therapy amenities. Other sorts of marijuana companies, together with indoor cultivation amenities, can be restricted to most industrial zones.
City officers additionally launched a set of proposed regulations on software necessities and working guidelines for cannabis companies. Those draft guidelines prohibit marijuana or alcohol from being consumed on web site, require safety and video surveillance, and mandate that companies permit inspections and audits, amongst many different necessities.
To apply to function in Los Angeles, cannabis companies must present detailed details about their possession, loans and traders. Marijuana shops that registered to pay enterprise taxes this or final yr and are in “substantial compliance” with an earlier set of restrictions can be first in line to get metropolis certificates.
The proposed guidelines additionally impose some hiring and labor necessities: Marijuana companies should set ahead an in depth plan for hiring native residents once they apply to function in L.A. If they've not less than 10 staff, they should have a “labor peace agreement.” Such agreements prohibit employers from interfering with any potential labor organizing by their staff, mentioned Vanessa Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for City Council President Herb Wesson.
The draft regulations will probably be obtainable for public evaluation and remark for 60 days earlier than metropolis officers take any motion. “We will continue to have a robust dialogue about the regulatory framework and a healthy debate of Los Angeles’ growing cannabis industry” earlier than the council votes on ultimate suggestions, Wesson mentioned in a written assertion Thursday.
Cannabis business and advocacy teams applauded town for taking the step however mentioned they had been nonetheless reviewing the proposed guidelines.
Releasing the draft guidelines is “a positive step towards fully licensing and regulating the cannabis industry in Los Angeles, so that our businesses have a shot at getting local authority, remain eligible to apply for state licensing, and are not left out of the state process,” Southern California Coalition president and co-founder Virgil Grant mentioned in a written assertion.
Others have already begun to voice some considerations. Ruben Honig, government director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Task Force, mentioned in a written assertion that “under the proposed regulations, many existing and new businesses in L.A. will face long delays before they can apply for a city permit and legally operate.”
Honig nonetheless known as the draft guidelines “a good step forward.”
All in all, L.A.’s proposed guidelines “allow for a fairly free and open market, which is what I think people want — to have a real economic engine here in Southern California,” mentioned Matt Stang, chief income officer for the cannabis media and occasion firm High Times.
Los Angeles is rewriting its guidelines after Californians voted in November to legalize the leisure use of marijuana and begin issuing state licenses by January.
Four years in the past, Los Angeles voters accepted Proposition D., which imposed restrictions that had been estimated to permit fewer than 140 medical pot shops to proceed doing enterprise with out threat of metropolis prosecution. But critics complain that a whole bunch extra have continued to function regardless of these guidelines.
In March, after the statewide vote, L.A. handed one other poll measure to kick off the method of rolling again Proposition D and updating its marijuana regulations.
The new measure additionally set tax charges for the cannabis business, which might pump new income into town’s coffers. City Controller Ron Galperin has estimated that Los Angeles might gather not less than $50 million in tax income from marijuana companies subsequent yr, primarily based on financial estimates that medical and newly legalized leisure gross sales citywide might strategy $700 million.
Galperin known as L.A.’s newly proposed regulations “an excellent start” however mentioned town ought to think about some extra safeguards.
For occasion, Galperin just lately suggested metropolis leaders that they need to think about requiring “smart safes” or different gadgets that depend money for marijuana companies searching for to function in L.A. Doing so, he mentioned, would make it a lot simpler to trace money and audit the companies.
Twitter: @LATimesEmily
LA proposes new regulations on marijuana shops
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