By Barry Blunt
Proposition D Defeated Ordinance F, and Numerous Dispensaries Will Be Forced To Shutter Their Doors, Leaving Countless Patients In Dire Straits. It’s Time Stoners Put The Bong Down and Start Voting.
PROPOSITION D – MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATION AND TAXATION
YES Votes 160,349 - or 62.91%
NO Votes 94,524 – or 37.08%
INITIATIVE ORDINANCE F – MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATION AND TAXATION
YES Votes 97,353 – or 41.58%
NO Votes 136,764 – or 58.41%
The immediate future of Los Angeles’ medical marijuana dispensaries was decided by the voters and the unjust repercussions are bountiful. And unfortunately, the wrong, low kind of voters were the ones to show up at the polls. Ordinance F lost, countless citizens will now lose safe access, their jobs, and their businesses. Likewise, the severe decrease in dispensaries will resuscitate and help the Black Market flourish, inflate the price points at clinics, and create a monopolized market that veers away from compassion.
Yet it’s still worth reveling in our progress, and realizing the future holds greener pastures. The forces are unifying, the majority wants it, and legal cannabis will come to Los Angeles sooner rather than later. In the words of WeedMaps’ CEO and progressive cannabis entrepreneur Justin Hartfield, we’re on the brink of our Tipping Point:
“The mere fact that marijuana initiatives are on the ballot speaks to a new era that prioritizes patients’ rights over rampant ignorance. Ordinance ‘F’ is what Los Angeles needs to ensure patients have safer and more cost-effective access to medical marijuana, but regardless of the election’s outcome, I am confident that voters will eventually prevail in their quest to remove the legal impediments that do more harm than good.
“We are nearing the end of prohibition for marijuana, and the cannabis initiatives that are surfacing throughout the country are indicative of change that is very similar to what this nation experienced when prohibition ended for alcohol in 1933,” Hartfield added. “The sooner local and federal governments understand how to regulate the industry in a similar fashion to alcohol, the better off our society will be in its approach to this burgeoning industry.” [Market Watch]
We echo that sentiment: the Federal Government may be able to contain us, but they cannot and will not stop us. As we’ve preached in the past, sometimes it feels like we only go backwards in this fixed political game of chess. Eventually, we will take the necessary steps forward, free weed, and put an end to prohibition once and for all.
Source: Marijuana.Com
