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**cllindner** · 09-22-2009, 09:11 PM

I attended today's meeting of the LA city Council's PLUM Committee. The meeting was set for 1:30 PM and therefore under “City Hall Time”started around 2 PM, despite the fact that a couple hundred people were waiting around.

The first information that I gleaned was that no other members of the committee had received a copy of the City Attorney's most recent and third attempt at fashioning a regulatory ordinance that makes sense. Since the proposed ordinance was only submitted on September 15th, apparently Chairman Ed Reyes [1st District] thought “Why not go ahead with an extended review of a proposed law that virtually no one on the City Council has read?”

With Chairman Reyes being the only elected official in the room who had actually read the proposed ordinance, for the next hour and 45 minutes, an overfilled gallery of ordinance opponents was treated to a love fest between Reyes, the Los Angeles City Attorney's deputies who drafted the ordinance – 5 or 6 spoke, numerous LAPD officers, the City Attorney of Long Beach, the City Prosecutor of Long Beach, and not one, but two representatives from the District Attorney's Office, all of whom had as much time as they wanted to explain their position to a Council committee that remains utterly clueless.

So, knowing how it was going to go, it turned out that I was the first speaker on behalf of the medical marijuana clinics. I was given ONE MINUTE, which I had anticipated. I had intended to deal with a part of the ordinance that authorizes Building and Safety inspectors and LAPD officers to enter any clinic without notice for the purpose of assuring compliance with the ordinance. This compliance includes going through patient records without a search warrant, without consent, without probable cause, without a court order and (you thought I missed it…) without a valid court subpoena. In other words, no legal-judicial barrier whatsoever.

Now it happens that my legal opinion is that police officers rummaging through patient records violates Article 1, Section 1 of the California Constitution, i.e., a constitutionally protected "right of privacy" that carries substantially more clout than some half-baked idiot Los Angeles City Ordinance drawn up by City prosecutors.

I tried to explain "medical privacy" to Chairman Reyes, who promptly informed me that he had a duty to protect his constituents. I replied that he took an oath to uphold the California Constitution.... to which his response was essentially "yada, yada, yada". On the other hand, unlike the law enforcement minions or Reyes, I did get a stirring round of applause from the gallery.

The bad news is that the current iteration of an ordinance is, in its own new nasty way, worse than we got from that blithering idiot, Rocky Delgadillo, when he was City Attorney. Our new CA, Carmen Trutanich, has been both a deputy DA and a criminal defense attorney. As I know Trutanich, I confess serious surprise that he would endorse such a wholesale invasion of patient privacy.

As most educated medical marijuana community members know, the entire purpose of the physician recommendation alternative built in to SB 420 was to avoid a mandatory state registration scheme that would put medical marijuana patients into a government computer, a concern for which, I believe, paranoia is justified.

I was followed by a Rastafarian, who - although cool - was in the wrong venue. Then came some clinic people, some patients, another lawyer. It didn’t really matter. I have been talking in court for 35 years, and I assure you that there is very little one can say in a minute unless one is extremely prepared, which of course, most people weren’t. It also was obvious that Reyes didn’t give a shit what we said.

I left around 4:30, leaving a long trail of folks to speak to Chairman Reyes, who, of course, was doing all that he could to get rid of them, and as best I could tell, ignored everything they said.

Oh, knowing that Reyes would screw me on time, I lodged a 3 page letter with the Committee setting out my opinion supported by case law on the invasion of privacy issue.

So, to borrow from Garrison Keillor, that’s how it was in City Hall Land, where the councilmen are all ignorant, their sycophants unctuous, and the narcs never lie to judges.... If anyone wants an e-copy of the letter, email me.

Charles L. "Chuck" Lindner
Attorney at Law
Santa Monica

Smilodon · 09-22-2009, 09:20 PM

Thank you for the very informative description of the days events.

labud · 09-22-2009, 09:22 PM

Big time thanks.....Chuck...

X Runner · 09-22-2009, 09:27 PM

They weren't there to argue with you, Chuck. You could have twisted them into pretzels if you had a chance. At least we got a glimpse of what these people are thinking now.

VooDoo Chile · 09-22-2009, 11:10 PM

Damn Chuck, you're friggin' awesome! Thank you so much for attending the meeting and speaking on our behalf. I'd love to read your letter, too. Keep up the great work!

***sunnydaycollective*** · 09-23-2009, 12:22 AM

Thank you so much for posting about this PLUM meeting today. I was in attendance today as well as my partner. You would think that there would be posts all over the place about it, but I have not found any. We as well were taken a back by the sheer incompetence of the city and its servants. The best part of the whole event was during public comment when the real truth of the matters came out. Question: What was reyes talking about when he mentioned an ICO extension until March 2010 , his deadline is up!!!!!!

Greenbud · 09-23-2009, 12:30 AM

The turnout was pretty big I must say.

GB

Medpatient · 09-23-2009, 05:59 AM

sounds like this reyes guy is quite the douche bag.

silvercloud · 09-23-2009, 07:02 AM

Word is Mr Reyes will be getting a 'karma' visit shortly to diffuse his indifference of responsibilities to the office of power he holds ,along w/rest of Council ~ LA will be 'wide open'

as it was always meant to be ~ keep the faith peeps ~ that is all

ronbrattin · 09-23-2009, 07:19 AM

Thank you for everything bro

stanleyk · 09-23-2009, 08:51 AM

Mr. Lindler,

Thank you very much for your time and passion. I'm sure karma will be good to you.

**docdoom420** · 09-23-2009, 08:57 AM

thanks for you time and dedication that your putting forth for mmj community, rep+

i heard at the lb had another meeting. hopefully that went well... we shall see

BrattonBasher · 09-23-2009, 09:11 AM

In the L.A. Times this morning there was a blurb about this. Reyes said regulation could be months away. Maybe the dipshit is playing good cop/bad cop with our safe access. Perhaps he is in cahoots with other members of the Council to throw out a hard line and then proceed. Either way it sure smells bad.

Justonevoice · 09-23-2009, 09:21 AM

The irony of that meeting was it was a "Repeat" meaning that they kept bringing up the same old BS that we should have been past long ago. I again believe that it is time to rally the troops and get as many people downtown for a rally and attend a council meeting in which we take up all if not most of the seats available so the have to listen. The full council needs to know that we will not accept anything less than reasonable regulation.

BrattonBasher · 09-23-2009, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justonevoice

The irony of that meeting was it was a "Repeat" meaning that they kept bringing up the same old BS that we should have been past long ago. I again believe that it is time to rally the troops and get as many people downtown for a rally and attend a council meeting in which we take up all if not most of the seats available so the have to listen. The full council needs to know that we will not accept anything less than reasonable regulation.

I down with JOV. There seems to be a large faction ready to spread misinformation that is easily refuted. If we allow the debate to head into Reefer Maddness we will all end up screwed. NIMBY's carry alot of weight with elected officials, and the copy JOV posted yesterday from Westwood was written by a professional. Choirboys usually don't open co-ops, so this business about strict background checks is only one of many darts they are throwing at us!

***cityofangels*** · 09-23-2009, 11:08 AM

Thank you, Mr. Linder. I was unaware of this recent meeting - but the scenario you described is quite disturbing. I am apalled by the proposal and the utter disregard of our basic civil rights.

The way in which the City has handled this entire issue is nothing short of an abomination.

***CARE Collective*** · 09-23-2009, 11:40 AM

Thank you for all the useful information...

VooDoo Chile · 09-23-2009, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justonevoice

The irony of that meeting was it was a "Repeat" meaning that they kept bringing up the same old BS that we should have been past long ago. I again believe that it is time to rally the troops and get as many people downtown for a rally and attend a council meeting in which we take up all if not most of the seats available so the have to listen. The full council needs to know that we will not accept anything less than reasonable regulation.

+2. I'm literally kicking myself for missing yesterday's meeting to attend my classes instead. The Cal State University system's completely hopeless, but MMJ in La ain't that bad yet. I'm keeping hope alive!

Greenbud · 09-23-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VooDoo Chile

+2. I'm literally kicking myself for missing yesterday's meeting to attend my classes instead. The Cal State University system's completely hopeless, but MMJ in La ain't that bad yet. I'm keeping hope alive!

I recall Reyes said the next meeting on this new ICO by Trutanich will be considered next Tues. 9/29/09 at 1:30 PM unless not in PLUM that day. We should all show up again and make our voices heard.

Anyone seen the Trutanich ICO?

Best,

GB

ShiningSkull · 09-23-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VooDoo Chile

+2. I'm literally kicking myself for missing yesterday's meeting to attend my classes instead. The Cal State University system's completely hopeless, but MMJ in La ain't that bad yet. I'm keeping hope alive!

Maybe you should write to them, VooDoo Chile. Go through it point by point. Also, then you'd get more than a minute.

Just don't sling alot of slang, ok? j/k

Seriously, you're the one who needs to represent us right now!

VooDoo Chile · 09-23-2009, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShiningSkull

Maybe you should write to them, VooDoo Chile. Go through it point by point. Also, then you'd get more than a minute.

Just don't sling alot of slang, ok? j/k

Seriously, you're the one who needs to represent us right now!

LOL. Yeah right, 26 year old undergraduate blonde hippie girl represents MMJ community, film at 11.

In all seriousness, you're right- writing them a letter is a great idea. Unfortunately, I cannot attend a meeting next week because I have an exam next Tuesday. That's not something I can just miss.

TRex · 09-23-2009, 02:48 PM

Mr. Linder, thanks for your time and the support you provide for the MMJ community. In the midst of all this turmoil, it is comforting to see that there are people of your caliber looking out for our interests. God bless you, and keep up the good work.

Justonevoice · 09-23-2009, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenbud

I recall Reyes said the next meeting on this new ICO by Trutanich will be considered next Tues. 9/29/09 at 1:30 PM unless not in PLUM that day. We should all show up again and make our voices heard.

Anyone seen the Trutanich ICO?

Best,

GB

You are correct and yes we should.

Justonevoice · 09-23-2009, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VooDoo Chile

LOL. Yeah right, 26 year old undergraduate blonde hippie girl represents MMJ community, film at 11.

In all seriousness, you're right- writing them a letter is a great idea. Unfortunately, I cannot attend a meeting next week because I have an exam next Tuesday. That's not something I can just miss.

Do take the time to write them believe it or not that is the best way to get on record but a follow up visit and speach can help too. You can go anytime the City Council is meeting and fill out a card for general comments and let them know that you can not attend PLUM meetings but that you have listened and that you are very dissatisfied with progess etc etc etc.........................

VooDoo Chile · 09-23-2009, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justonevoice

Do take the time to write them believe it or not that is the best way to get on record but a follow up visit and speach can help too. You can go anytime the City Council is meeting and fill out a card for general comments and let them know that you can not attend PLUM meetings but that you have listened and that you are very dissatisfied with progess etc etc etc.........................

Will do!

I'll post a draft of the letter when it's done so I can get some feedback from y'all. I probably won't get to it till this weekend, so stay tuned!

09-22-2009, 09:11 PM	#1 (permalink)
cllindner Banned Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Santa Monica Co-Op: NO Vendor: NO Patient: YES Posts: 67 Rep Power: 0	A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting I attended today's meeting of the LA city Council's PLUM Committee. The meeting was set for 1:30 PM and therefore under “City Hall Time”started around 2 PM, despite the fact that a couple hundred people were waiting around. The first information that I gleaned was that no other members of the committee had received a copy of the City Attorney's most recent and third attempt at fashioning a regulatory ordinance that makes sense. Since the proposed ordinance was only submitted on September 15th, apparently Chairman Ed Reyes [1st District] thought “Why not go ahead with an extended review of a proposed law that virtually no one on the City Council has read?” With Chairman Reyes being the only elected official in the room who had actually read the proposed ordinance, for the next hour and 45 minutes, an overfilled gallery of ordinance opponents was treated to a love fest between Reyes, the Los Angeles City Attorney's deputies who drafted the ordinance – 5 or 6 spoke, numerous LAPD officers, the City Attorney of Long Beach, the City Prosecutor of Long Beach, and not one, but two representatives from the District Attorney's Office, all of whom had as much time as they wanted to explain their position to a Council committee that remains utterly clueless. So, knowing how it was going to go, it turned out that I was the first speaker on behalf of the medical marijuana clinics. I was given ONE MINUTE, which I had anticipated. I had intended to deal with a part of the ordinance that authorizes Building and Safety inspectors and LAPD officers to enter any clinic without notice for the purpose of assuring compliance with the ordinance. This compliance includes going through patient records without a search warrant, without consent, without probable cause, without a court order and (you thought I missed it…) without a valid court subpoena. In other words, no legal-judicial barrier whatsoever. Now it happens that my legal opinion is that police officers rummaging through patient records violates Article 1, Section 1 of the California Constitution, i.e., a constitutionally protected "right of privacy" that carries substantially more clout than some half-baked idiot Los Angeles City Ordinance drawn up by City prosecutors. I tried to explain "medical privacy" to Chairman Reyes, who promptly informed me that he had a duty to protect his constituents. I replied that he took an oath to uphold the California Constitution.... to which his response was essentially "yada, yada, yada". On the other hand, unlike the law enforcement minions or Reyes, I did get a stirring round of applause from the gallery. The bad news is that the current iteration of an ordinance is, in its own new nasty way, worse than we got from that blithering idiot, Rocky Delgadillo, when he was City Attorney. Our new CA, Carmen Trutanich, has been both a deputy DA and a criminal defense attorney. As I know Trutanich, I confess serious surprise that he would endorse such a wholesale invasion of patient privacy. As most educated medical marijuana community members know, the entire purpose of the physician recommendation alternative built in to SB 420 was to avoid a mandatory state registration scheme that would put medical marijuana patients into a government computer, a concern for which, I believe, paranoia is justified. I was followed by a Rastafarian, who - although cool - was in the wrong venue. Then came some clinic people, some patients, another lawyer. It didn’t really matter. I have been talking in court for 35 years, and I assure you that there is very little one can say in a minute unless one is extremely prepared, which of course, most people weren’t. It also was obvious that Reyes didn’t give a shit what we said. I left around 4:30, leaving a long trail of folks to speak to Chairman Reyes, who, of course, was doing all that he could to get rid of them, and as best I could tell, ignored everything they said. Oh, knowing that Reyes would screw me on time, I lodged a 3 page letter with the Committee setting out my opinion supported by case law on the invasion of privacy issue. So, to borrow from Garrison Keillor, that’s how it was in City Hall Land, where the councilmen are all ignorant, their sycophants unctuous, and the narcs never lie to judges.... If anyone wants an e-copy of the letter, email me. Charles L. "Chuck" Lindner Attorney at Law Santa Monica

09-22-2009, 09:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
Smilodon Part of the Solution Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: San Diego Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 1,044 Rep Power: 62374	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Thank you for the very informative description of the days events. Smilodon says.. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem."

09-22-2009, 09:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
labud plowboy Join Date: May 2005 Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 264 Rep Power: 2362	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Big time thanks.....Chuck...

09-22-2009, 09:27 PM	#4 (permalink)
X Runner WT Regular Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Southern California Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 204 Rep Power: 4551	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting They weren't there to argue with you, Chuck. You could have twisted them into pretzels if you had a chance. At least we got a glimpse of what these people are thinking now.

09-22-2009, 11:10 PM	#5 (permalink)
VooDoo Chile Stoned Immaculate Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Canoga Park, Fool Co-Op: NO Vendor: NO Patient: YES Posts: 1,883 Rep Power: 113356	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Damn Chuck, you're friggin' awesome! Thank you so much for attending the meeting and speaking on our behalf. I'd love to read your letter, too. Keep up the great work! VooDoo Chile says.."A Young Lady Raised in a Kooky Era"- ScrewyLewy

09-23-2009, 12:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
*sunnydaycollective* WT Regular Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: ca Co-Op: YES Vendor: NO Patient: YES Posts: 84 Rep Power: 1270	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Thank you so much for posting about this PLUM meeting today. I was in attendance today as well as my partner. You would think that there would be posts all over the place about it, but I have not found any. We as well were taken a back by the sheer incompetence of the city and its servants. The best part of the whole event was during public comment when the real truth of the matters came out. Question: What was reyes talking about when he mentioned an ICO extension until March 2010 , his deadline is up!!!!!!

09-23-2009, 12:30 AM	#7 (permalink)
Greenbud WT Advanced Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Co-Op: NO Vendor: NO Patient: YES Posts: 1,096 Rep Power: 52352	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting The turnout was pretty big I must say. GB

09-23-2009, 05:59 AM	#8 (permalink)
Medpatient Weed Wizard Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Orange County Co-Op: No Vendor: NO Patient: yes Posts: 4,798 Rep Power: 31144	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting sounds like this reyes guy is quite the douche bag. Medpatient says.. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. All Orange county reviews are based on the average of orange county quality

09-23-2009, 07:02 AM	#9 (permalink)
silvercloud WT Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: venice beach Co-Op: non Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 2,103 Rep Power: 36071	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Word is Mr Reyes will be getting a 'karma' visit shortly to diffuse his indifference of responsibilities to the office of power he holds ,along w/rest of Council ~ LA will be 'wide open' as it was always meant to be ~ keep the faith peeps ~ that is all silvercloud says..Try to keep an open To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "3rdEye" wherever ,whenever ..... "If life doesn't wait ,why wait on life" ... ?/? .....

09-23-2009, 07:19 AM	#10 (permalink)
ronbrattin Oakland6913 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: ventura county Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 58 Rep Power: 232	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Thank you for everything bro

09-23-2009, 08:51 AM	#11 (permalink)
stanleyk You can't run from Karma Join Date: Mar 2007 Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 269 Rep Power: 3686	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Mr. Lindler, Thank you very much for your time and passion. I'm sure karma will be good to you.

09-23-2009, 08:57 AM	#12 (permalink)
docdoom420 get out the new dudes face..... suckka Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: 110 to the end Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 374 Rep Power: 7650	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting thanks for you time and dedication that your putting forth for mmj community, rep+ i heard at the lb had another meeting. hopefully that went well... we shall see

09-23-2009, 09:11 AM	#13 (permalink)
BrattonBasher Weed Wizard Of Westwood Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Santa Monica Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 7,105 Rep Power: 127301	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting In the L.A. Times this morning there was a blurb about this. Reyes said regulation could be months away. Maybe the dipshit is playing good cop/bad cop with our safe access. Perhaps he is in cahoots with other members of the Council to throw out a hard line and then proceed. Either way it sure smells bad.

09-23-2009, 09:21 AM	#14 (permalink)
Justonevoice The intuition of free will gives us the truth. Join Date: Sep 2007 Co-Op: No Vendor: No Patient: Yes Posts: 2,487 Rep Power: 62165	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting The irony of that meeting was it was a "Repeat" meaning that they kept bringing up the same old BS that we should have been past long ago. I again believe that it is time to rally the troops and get as many people downtown for a rally and attend a council meeting in which we take up all if not most of the seats available so the have to listen. The full council needs to know that we will not accept anything less than reasonable regulation. Justonevoice says.." To taste the real flavor of success, we must combine failures, passions and courage all together in one action." Johni Pangalila

09-23-2009, 11:08 AM	#16 (permalink)
*cityofangels* WT Advanced Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Hollywood, CA Co-Op: yes Vendor: no Patient: Yes Posts: 542 Rep Power: 2407	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Thank you, Mr. Linder. I was unaware of this recent meeting - but the scenario you described is quite disturbing. I am apalled by the proposal and the utter disregard of our basic civil rights. The way in which the City has handled this entire issue is nothing short of an abomination. cityofangels says..I work for City of Angels

09-23-2009, 11:40 AM	#17 (permalink)
*CARE Collective* Where CHEMISTRY and CANNABIS Combine Join Date: Dec 2008 Co-Op: yes Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 515 Rep Power: 15324	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Thank you for all the useful information... CARE Collective says..I Work For California Associaton for Remedies and Education Where CHEMISTRY and CANNABIS Combine :partysmile:

09-23-2009, 02:48 PM	#22 (permalink)
TRex Working On My PhD in BUDology Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: So. Cal. (LA County-SGV) Co-Op: no Vendor: no Patient: yes Posts: 42 Rep Power: 449	Re: A Report Re The 9/22 LA City PLUM Meeting Mr. Linder, thanks for your time and the support you provide for the MMJ community. In the midst of all this turmoil, it is comforting to see that there are people of your caliber looking out for our interests. God bless you, and keep up the good work. TRex says.. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. there's a TRex on the Couch

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