Quiz 1

Medical marijuana dispensaries have a prominent presence in Los Angeles. The LA city council is now setting a communal regulation on these businesses by   enforcing a 1000 foot barrier of separation between any dispensary in the city of Los Angeles and any “child-friendly” location. Specifically, this includes parks, schools, and public libraries within the city. It is important to also consider and respect the rights of those that utilize medicinal marijuana for pain management, daily wellness, and overall increased standard of living. By analyzing the current distribution of cannabis dispensaries and the location of schools, libraries, and parks, I have determined that this ordinance can be implemented without eradicating “holistic medicine”.

To begin my analysis, I chose to visually display the specific street addresses of 42 cannabis dispensaries within the city of Los Angeles. This allows me to not only view the relative distribution, but perform the appropriate analysis required to make an educated decision. By placing 1000 foot buffers around every dispensary and uploading spatial data for schools, parks, and libraries, I can identify the exact businesses that would be in violation of the new city ordinance. Of the original 42 locations, only 5 dispensaries breach the 1000 foot “barrier rule”. Although implementation of the new ordinance would close these 5 locations, the majority would remain valid and legal.

Does it make sense to implement this “barrier rule” in the city of Los Angeles? With the new ordinance, families can afford to be less concerned about the placement of dispensaries, enforcement would be cheap and easy, and medical marijuana patients would still have more than enough options. Economically speaking, medical marijuana within Los Angeles is a taxable good. Cannabis clubs are therefore a valid contributor to the strength of Southern California’s economy and GDP. Because of this, it is important to respect these establishments as professional businesses. The City’s ordinance is therefore beneficial because it wouldn’t eradicate this entire sector. Ideally the community will respect these retailers even more because they are abiding by “family friendly” law.

Allow I firmly believe that implementing the medical marijuana ordinance is a positive decision and a step forward, it is still important to consider the drawbacks of this choice. Business will be shut down meaning individuals will lose jobs. Although enforcement will be fairly cheap, it requires a special police force unit to ensure that proper action is being followed. Most importantly, any major controversial decision atomically generates a societal dichotomy. Overall, I feel these drawbacks are outweighed by the benefits of the city ordinance and “buffer rule”.

References:

UCLA Map Share

Enterprise GIS

California NORML: Medical Marijuana Collective Index