All L.A. County medical pot dispensaries face prosecution, district attorney says

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said today that all the medical marijuana dispensaries in the county are operating illegally, and that "they are going to be prosecuted."

There are hundreds of dispensaries throughout the county, including as many as 800 in the city of Los Angeles, according to the city attorney's office. They operate under a 1996 voter initiative that allowed marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes, and a subsequent state law that provided for collective cultivation.

Based on a state Supreme Court decision last year, Cooley and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have concluded that over-the-counter sales are illegal. Most if not all of the dispensaries in the state operate on that basis.

Cooley said his office had already begun preparing to prosecute a Culver City dispensary called Organica.

Widespread criminal prosecutions could deal a sharp blow to the medical marijuana movement in California, where advocates have argued that access to the drug has helped many cancer patients and others manage pain, nausea and other health issues.

Cooley and Trutanich announced their plans after a training session for narcotics officers at the Montebello Country Club. Outside about 100 medical marijuana advocates protested, saying that not allowing over-the-counter sales threatens the distribution of a product that many sick people have come to rely on.

Barry Kramer, operator of the California Patient Alliance, a dispensary on Melrose Avenue, said, "If this is the way it goes, we'll go underground again. There will be a lot more crime."


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New law gives poor people right to attorney in civil cases

Get caught stealing a six-pack of beer and, rich or poor, you get the right to an attorney.
But face eviction or a child custody battle and can't pay for a lawyer?
Get lost.
A new California law, the first of its kind in the nation, aims to change that lack of attorney access for poor people who find themselves in the state's civil courtrooms.
Two weeks ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a measure that local legal aid officials are calling landmark legislation: It essentially gives poor people embroiled in serious civil cases the right to an attorney.
The new law, a pilot program scheduled to run from July 2011 to June 2017, is an experiment based on giving poor people the right to legal representation in vital, sometimes life-altering cases that play out in the state's civil courtrooms.
The concept of a state-funded lawyer previously applied only to people facing criminal charges who were unable to pay for an attorney; however, the program will not help every poor person in every case.
The money is intended for people who are at or below 200 percent of the poverty level as set by the federal government, and is limited to certain cases, including domestic violence, child custody, housing and elder abuse.
The funding ---- an estimated $11 million a year for the state to divvy up ---- will come from a $10 increase to the court fees paid by the winning parties in certain civil cases.
It is a very small start, but it is a remarkable recognition that access to justice should be equal in criminal and civil cases, said Irene Morales, the executive director and chief counsel of the Inland Counties Legal Services, which serves people in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
"I've been in legal aid services my entire professional career, and this is one of the best things that has ever happened," said Morales, who joined the legal services agency in 1976 and has headed the firm since 1983. "This is a way of having a more level playing field. The need is there.
"In cases where you need but lack representation, there is no justice. This opens the doors to justice."
The number of people without an attorney who go to court for serious cases is staggering, according to numbers provided by local legal services agencies and state officials.


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