A Spatial Look at LA’s Medical Marijuana Ordinaces Justin Oh UP 206A – Estrada Winter 2011

Key Questions How have LA’s medical marijuana ordinances affected the number/location of dispensaries? Did the ordinances accomplish what they were designed to do?

Pre-2007 LA City has zoning ordinance in place to allow dispensaries in accordance with CA Prop 215: Light Industrial / Commercial zones that do not abut Residential zones May not locate within 1000 feet of: Schools/Childcare facilities Parks Libraries Places of worship Other “sensitive uses” Other dispensaries

LA City Council establishes interim control ordinance, placing moratorium on new dispensaries (March 2007) Moratorium is largely ignored: Poor oversight and enforcement leads to an explosion of new dispensaries “Hardship exemption” loophole Wildly varying estimates of the number of shops: LAPD – 450 LA Weekly – 525 Justin Oh – 700 KCRW – 1000 LA Planning Dept - ??????

Dispensaries in LA County, circa 2007

LA City Council adopts a new ordinance allowing 186 dispensaries to operate (June 2009). Hardship exemption removed, and only allowed to operate if: In operation prior to 2007 ICO under same name, at least one original owner Pass new round of registrations/fees Still in compliance with all applicable regulations Service of letters to noncompliant dispensaries (May 2010) Backed by City Attorney Penalty of up to $2500/day of noncompliance, 6 months in jail

The Effect of the Ordinances

Today – Down to 41 Latest round of registrations/applications determined only 41 dispensaries are still eligible to operate (February 2011) City has asked District Judge to determine if such a restrictive ordinance is legal Multiple lawsuits from owners pending

Today – Down to 41

Hollywood – A Closer Look

Denser concentration of dispensaries than most LA neighborhoods 69 in 16.5 sq.mi  4.18 dispensaries/sq.mi (2007) 26 in 16.5 sq.mi  1.58 dispensaries/sq.mi (2011) Most disqualified dispensaries violate location rules; very few odd cases spatially

Key Questions How have LA’s medical marijuana ordinances affected the number/location of dispensaries? Number – Decreased drastically (at least those operating lawfully, not delivery-only) Location – Not much change; ordinances were reactive Did the ordinances accomplish what they were designed to do? Yes; they were designed to cut down the number of dispensaries in LA and did so.

Skills Used Layout 1: Geocoding addresses of dispensaries Geoprocessing (Clipping) LA County shapefile with California coastline Layout 2: Selecting by Attribute to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized dispensaries Layout 3: Selecting by Attribute to differentiate between eligible and ineligible dispensaries

Skills Used Layout 4: Inset Map of Hollywood area by adding new data frame Selection by Location to create layer of dispensaries, schools, parks, and libraries within census tracts of interest Buffering around “sensitive uses” to indicate restricted areas in which dispensaries cannot locate