After medical marijuana dispensaries were put in jeopardy of a ban last July, the Los Angeles City Council voted 8-4 to approve its own medical marijuana measure to appear on the May ballot.
Ordinance No. 182443, the measure proposed by Councilman Paul Koretz, would allow roughly 100 medical marijuana dispensaries to remain open, increase taxes from $50 per $1,000 in gross receipts to $60, and restrict dispensaries from being located near K-12 schools and churches.
Christopher Koontz, planning deputy for Koretz who has worked closely on developing the medical marijuana measure, said the reason behind proposing this measure included finding a compromise between having a ban on marijuana dispensaries and letting a limitless amount of them become operational.