Radical Residents Of Laguna Woods Say Keep Cannabis Local

The OC Register reports… It was standing room only at Laguna Woods City Hall as pro-cannabis residents filled the room with bodies and black-and-white signs reading “Legalize it,” “Keep our cannabis local” and “Don’t ban the bud.”

The protesters were gathered to fight the next statewide plight for cannabis consumers — the Bureau of Cannabis Control’s retraction of current protections on collective and cooperative models of cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and distribution in California, as announced in January this year.

Commercial cannabis activity will only be permitted among licensees as of Jan. 9, 2019 — ushering the presumed demise of the Laguna Woods Medical Cannabis Collective.

Since 2009, collective director Lonnie Painter’s grassroots network among residents has provided organically grown, lab-tested cannabis at “fair trade prices,” including THC, CBD, topical pain relievers, and edibles to name a few. He offers discounts, delivery for orders over $45 and occasional educational seminars.

Collective members reference Painter like a tribe would its shaman, saying how he educates and medicates to their own personalized pain.

“We will not put up with outside strangers that we do not know or trust. We all rely on Lonnie Painter,” 16-year resident Ruth Harrell said. “I have never experienced such a humungous problem over something that has never caused any problems.”

According to a study released by the Orange County Health Care Agency in 2017, Laguna Woods ranked number one countywide in deaths caused by prescription drugs. Lonnie Painter, who runs a cannabis collective in the city, asked the City Council to add legalizing local dispensaries to next month’s agenda, on Oct. 17, 2018. (Photo by Brooke Becher, contributing photographer)

If not through Painter, residents can turn to dispensaries to access cannabis products; however, the closest shop is in Santa Ana.

Source: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/10/24/laguna-woods-cannabis-collective-urges-repeal-of-city-ban-on-dispensaries/

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