The Los Angeles City Council has pushed off until next Tuesday its continued consideration of a medical marijuana ordinance so that council members can review the latest draft, a 14-page document that the city attorney's office finished Monday.

The council, under pressure from neighborhood activists and some medical marijuana advocates, has been pressing to adopt an ordinance before the end of the year. It had intended to try to complete work on the ordinance Wednesday.

"I want to make sure the council digests what has been said. To have that discussion tomorrow, I think, would have been a waste of time," said Ed Reyes, chairman of the council committee that worked on the draft ordinance. He said he hoped the council would complete the draft next week but added, "But I said that the last time."

The council pushed through numerous contentious issues last week but put off some major decisions, including whether to cap the number of dispensaries in the city and whether to require on-site cultivation.

When the council first started to look into what to do about dispensaries, 4 1/2 years ago, the city had just four. A year later, it had at least 98. Now there are hundreds, despite a moratorium on new dispensaries that was adopted in 2007. Under that ban, 186 registered with the city to be allowed to continue to operate.