Los Angeles is seeking a way to allow marijuana dispensaries - yet limit the negative impact that hundreds of non-permitted pot shops have had on many neighborhoods.
Voters will weigh in on three measures.
Prop D: Drawn up by the City Council, this proposition decreases the number of collectives and limits them to the 135 businesses that were registered in the city prior to a 2007 moratorium.
Councilman Bill Rosendahl says it will provide access to medicinal relief for cancer patients, just like him.
"I would not be standing here right now if it wasn't for the medicinal use of marijuana," he said.
Prop E: This would also limit the shops, but its supporters have shifted to Prop D, which has similar objectives.
Measure F: This is a free market approach. It calls for the shops to police themselves, offer quality control and pay more city taxes.
Under Measure F, Michelle Daskalos's collective in Venice could still operate along with many others that are not among those 135 previously authorized by the city.
"I believe that in a city the size of Los Angeles, the number of patients that we have here, 135 shops is too few. You can't provide adequate service. You're going to have hundreds of patients going through those places a day. That doesn't make any sense," said Daskalos.
Some city leaders are pushing another option.
"It's my best recommendation that they vote no on all three," said Councilman Bernard Parks.
Parks says the courts have knocked down previous marijuana measures passed by the city after costly legal battles. The inherent conflict is that federal law says marijuana is a controlled substance. State law says that medical marijuana patients can use it, but must grow their own.
"It never allows for retail sales or opening stores or people coming that are not part of you collective," Parks said.
Mixed feelings are registered in an exclusive Eyewitness News poll conducted by Survey USA.
Prop D:40 % - yes
24% - no
36% - not certain
Prop E:
24% - yes
37% - no
40% - not certain
Measure F:
54% - yes
17% - no
29% - not certain
In this race, only one of these measures can pass and it will have to get more than 50 percent of the vote. If none get the majority, all three fail.
