City Council to Consider Supporting Marijuana Decriminalization Bill

The conflict between state and federal marijuana laws has often meant trouble for the owners of West Hollywood's dispensaries.

In March 2011,  Alternative Herbal Health Services and Zen Healing on Santa Monica Boulevard were raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency, despite being authorized to operate by the city.

Previously, the DEA conducted simultaneous raids on 11 Los Angeles-area dispensaries, five of which were in West Hollywood, in January of 2007.

On Monday evening, the West Hollywood City Council will consider putting their support behind a bill currently in the House of Representatives, which would likely declaw the federal government's attempts to crack down on the use of medical marijuana.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer's (D-OR) bill seeks to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substance Act's list of class 1 controlled substances, which also includes heroin and cocaine.

In Councilman John Duran's motion urging support for the bill, he states that  marijuana's removal from the class 1 list would likely mean more lenient penalties for and a less dogged pursuit of medical marijuana collective members.

If the bill were to eventually become law, research into the medicinal uses of medical marijuana could expand. As it stands, the National Institute on Drug Abuse is prohibited from studying the potential medical benefits of class 1 substances.

In his motion, Duran noted that such research could be beneficial for the community of men and women living with HIV/AIDS in West Hollywood, who use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Researches have found that the use of marijuana by HIV/AIDs patients helped increase appetite and mitigate pain.

This would not be the first time the city council has supported federal legislation that would increase access to marijuana.

In the 2008, the city council supported a similar measure forwarded by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to remove marijuana from the class 1 list. The city council also supported a Frank measure to decriminalize the possession of a small amount of marijuana.