It looks like any other US farmer’s market, where buyers sniff the wares, test weights and compare, while vendors tout their products — The only difference is that the sole produce on offer is cannabis, organic, of course.
“We have lollipops for US$7, chocolate bars to help you relax for US$13 and ‘cosmic dust,’” said Bill Harrison, a seller who also stocks plain old marijuana for smoking.
The Heritage Farmer’s Market — held over the US’ Fourth of July holiday weekend — was the first of its kind in Los Angeles and despite the scorching sun, the line to get in stretched hundreds of meters.
Photo: AFP
The crowd was diverse and multigenerational, interspersed with hippies, rockers, hipsters and some nondescript suburban types who all had at least one thing in common: a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana, without which they could not enter the market.
In California, marijuana is only legal for medicinal purposes. For recreational use, possession of less than 28g could result in a fine, while larger amounts could result in criminal charges.
Edwynn Delgado knows the laws by heart.
Photo: AFP
“For medical use, you are allowed up to 4 ounces [113g] at home, but I’d like to bring back home more today,” he joked.
The 20-year-old said he has smoked pot since he was 11, adding that: “In my neighborhood, there was a always a lot of weed around.”
He became a “legal” user at age 18, when he got a prescription to ease muscle aches.
Delgado waited for more than an hour at the stand that offers the best prices, at US$180 per ounce (28g), instead of US$300 as charged in a regular dispensary.
Besides getting a good deal, Delgado prefers coming where he can count on quality product.
“Street dealers are dangerous because they put other stuff on it,” he said.
“It’s like in a regular farmer’s market” said Adam Agathakis, one of the organizers of the fair, which was to end yesterday. “People come here to talk to growers, to check that it’s grown without pesticides and that it doesn’t have mold.”
The bearded 35-year-old has campaigned to “de-demonize” cannabis since his father died of cancer a decade ago.
“When he was dying, marijuana was the only thing alleviating the pain,” Agathakis said.
Marijuana grower Terry Sand said that cannabis markets have sprouted elsewhere, including northern California and Washington state, but they were not quite the same.
“They were more like conventions. Here it’s special, because they are bringing growers and consumers together,” Sand said.
The former elevator technician said he grew up amid cannabis and marijuana: “My parents were hippies, they were growing [marijuana] in their backyard.”
So when a new technique emerged to help boost cannabis productivity in covered areas, Sand said he saw a “massive, overwhelming opportunity.”
Cancer patient Karen Flores, 50, said she smokes because “it helps me relax, it helps my nerves, it helps the pain I have.”
She came to the market for the good prices and quality of the pot.
“It has to taste good, to smell good,” Flores said, adding that she does not like to light up in public, so when she is away from home, she snacks on brownies like the onese she bought from a vendor.
Also on offer: gold-plated pipes, pizzas, meringue pies and waffles.
At Mathew Gerson’s stand, a more unusual product is for sale: “It’s a vaginal lubricant, it is coconut oil-infused,” he said. “With young women, it enhances sensations, and with menopausal women, it awakens their sexuality, and it helps them sleep.”
Cheryl Shuman, head of a public relations firm, said she almost died of cancer in 2006 and credits marijuana for helping her pull through.
She joined the campaign to decriminalize pot, organizing the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club and becoming one of the leaders of Moms for Marijuana, a global group for women who support legalization.
One weighty argument in favor of legalizing the herb is the economic potential of the market, estimated to be worth about US$47 billion alone in the US states where it has already been legalized.
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