As we’ve documented here at
Reason, Los Angeles, after failing to
ban medical marijuana dispensaries within its city entirely,
convinced voters to put in place a protectionist scheme that allows
the first crop of dispensaries to stay open and forces all others
to shut their doors (not that the city seems able to
actually follow through on that last part).
When a Los Angeles collective launched a
marijuana farmers market at the beginning of July, there didn’t
seem to be much of an official response, but it looks like they
probably weren’t paying attention. Now that they know, the city is
trying to get an injunction to shut it down. From the
Los Angeles Times:
City Atty. Mike Feuer says his office will request a temporary
restraining order to stop operations.“We’re fighting to stop this end-run around the will of the
voters who enacted Proposition D,” Feuer said in a statement. “We
allege these events also violate city land-use law and are causing
a public nuisance. We will do everything we can to put a halt to
them.”Feuer’s action alleges the market didn’t comply with
requirements outlined in Proposition D, a ballot measure passed
last year that set up the legal parameters for dispensaries to
remain open.
Proposition D is the local ballot initiative that capped the
number of dispensaries. Feuer complains further that the market
violates zoning regulations and California’s
Unfair Competition Law, which is a pretty ballsy accusation
from the guy representing a city that has been trying for the last
two years to help established medical marijuana shops eliminate
competition.
The city also complains that the weekend market (held in an
industrial area) resulted in blocked sidewalks and affected other
nearby businesses, which is perhaps a sign that there is a demand
for marijuana farmers markets, and perhaps the solution is to have
more of them, not fewer? Is there a better example of how absurd
the mentality of government officials can be compared to the
private market? “This product or service is far too popular, so we
must shut it down for everybody’s safety.” In the private market,
they’d be talking about franchising it or something to actually
take advantage of the demand.
Reason TV’s Alexis Garcia filmed a visit to the first farmers
market on Independence Day weekend. Watch below and take note of
how the market gives card-holding medical marijuana customers
options for providers other than the handful of middle-men
protected by Proposition D:
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/Wf3ykF
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