Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jun 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Veronica Rocha
Page: AA1
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

FROM POT PLOT TO PATIENT

Boyle Heights Farmers Market Will Give Medical Marijuana Users Access 
to the Cannabis Growers

The ever-popular farmers market scene in Los Angeles could soon see 
the introduction of a whole new type of green - albeit targeted to a 
very specific consumer.

What's being billed as L.A.'s first cannabis-centric farmers market 
is to make its debut in Boyle Heights over the Fourth of July 
weekend. The motivation for organizers is similar to what has made 
farmers markets ubiquitous across Los Angeles: direct access to 
produce - or, in this case, pot producers.

"We are offering a new type of way for patients in Los Angeles to 
access their medicine," said Paizley Bradbury, executive director of 
the West Coast Collective, the Boyle Heights marijuana dispensary 
that is hosting the California Heritage Market inside a 
warehouse-like structure.

At the market, she said, card-carrying medical marijuana patients 
will be able to smell, touch and - yes - purchase fresh, organic buds 
directly from growers who will be coming in from around the state.

Marijuana treats, oils, concentrated cannabis and glass pipes may 
also be on the menu.

David Welsh, who represents the West Coast Collective and several 
other dispensaries throughout the region, said the market is not 
"some rogue shop" and complies with local laws.

The event won't be open to the public in the way most open-air 
farmers markets are, and access will be limited to those who can 
legally buy pot.

Organizers said they intend to close the collective from 10 a.m. to 8 
p.m. each day so they can verify that every customer is legally able 
to purchase marijuana products, a process that will include calling 
their doctors, checking IDs and running licenses through the state's 
medical marijuana program database.

"It's a novel idea," Welsh said of the market. "It really holds true 
to the purpose of the medical marijuana law."

The city attorney's office did not respond to questions Friday on the 
legality of the event or whether it would be challenged.

LAPD Officer Rosario Herrera said it doesn't appear that organizers 
would be breaking the law so long as they sell only to licensed customers.

The West Coast Collective's 15,000-square-foot shop in the 1500 block 
of South Esperanza Street is one of 135 dispensaries allowed to 
operate in Los Angeles under Proposition D, the ballot measure passed 
last year that set up the legal parameters for some dispensaries to 
remain open.

For months, organizers discussed cutting out the middleman for 
medical marijuana patients, much as typical farmers markets do for 
thousands of consumers across L.A. every week.

The idea for a cannabis market, Bradbury said, came after she noticed 
that some dispensaries were providing false information about the 
product and significantly increasing their prices to patients.

A market would give patients an opportunity to talk to growers and 
get wholesale prices - something that isn't usually available.

"Dispensaries are supposed to allow patients to access their 
growers," Bradbury said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom