LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles City Clerk's Office confirmed today  that opponents of a pending city ban on storefront medical marijuana  dispensaries have submitted enough valid petition signatures to force a  referendum on the ordinance. 

The City Council now has the option of repealing the ban, calling a special election within the next 110 to 140 days or putting the issue on the March 5 city election ballot.

The ban had been scheduled to take effect Sept. 6, but it was put on hold when a group of activists submitted about 50,000 petition signatures to the City Clerk's Office in hopes of forcing a vote on the issue. The clerk’s office announced today that 49,021 of the signatures were deemed to be valid, well above the required 27,425.

According to the clerk's office, the City Council is expected to consider its next move sometime before Oct. 7.

After the petition signatures were submitted, the city attorney's office  posted a notice online indicating that it would not enforce the city's ban,  but it also warned that ``the business of medical marijuana continues to be an  unpermitted land use in the city.''

Read more here.