City, judge temporarily shut down marijuana farmers market

BOYLE HEIGHTS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- It attracted large crowds, but after two weekends a medical marijuana farmers market in Boyle Heights has been shut down by a judge -- at least for now.

The city of Los Angeles took legal action to shut down the new medical marijuana farmers market. A superior court judge agreed with the city's argument on Tuesday.

The California Heritage Market is the first such pot market of its kind to open in Los Angeles after Proposition D was passed by voters. After two weekends in operation, the city got a superior court judge to shut it down at least temporarily.

"This is an attempt to create a loophole in Proposition D that voters never intended or contemplated," said Assistant City Attorney James Clark.

West Coast Collective, the operators of the farmers market, say they will later show the court that the California Heritage Market in Boyle Heights should be treated with the same "hands off" policy as many L.A. dispensaries are.

The famers market was created as a new model for prescription marijuana card-holding members to meet as many as 50 growers, discuss the product, and avoid the "middle man."

"Nowhere in Measure D does it say that you must operate from a single counter, and you must have a single line, with one individual determining the prices. Measure D simply says a location where marijuana is cultivated and distributed amongst its members," said West Coast Collective attorney David Welch.

L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer says Prop. D passed last year was meant for compassionate use of medical marijuana, and that dispensaries must comply with strict requirements, and even then they cannot be considered "legal." Rather, the dispensaries get provisional immunity from prosecution.

"Under Proposition D, there's no such thing as a lawful medical marijuana business in this city," said Feuer.

The city alleges the Heritage Market isn't doing on-site background checks; that the warehouse where it's housed doesn't have proper permits; and that the 5,000 people who visited on the July 4 weekend created a nuisance.

And what could happen, they say, if the court allows such markets?

"They could have 500 or a thousand vendors at this location, and many other locations," said Clark. "This could spring up in the San Fernando Valley, it could be on the Westside, it could be every place."

"It does not increase the footprint, in the city, of medical marijuana," said Welch. "It allows it at one location, but allows patients the access to individual growers."

The judge will hear further arguments on August 6 for a preliminary injunction.