SAN FRANCISCO—Last month, San Francisco saw its first medical marijuana food festival, known as the “Get Baked Sale,” held in its city limits.

City officials have ruled that it will not allow a second medical marijuana festival to take place next year, nor would it allow the same organizers’ upcoming “Pot Luck” in August. The decision comes following a move by the city of San Francisco not to grant organizers a dispensary permit required to sell medical marijuana.

Dispensaries around the city received notice from Public Health warning them to sell only in their permitted location.
Dispensaries around the city received notice from Public Health warning them to sell only in their permitted location.

The “Get Baked Sale” proved a success by gaining nationwide coverage. Organizers managed to throw the festival without a permit, but are claiming that they were allowed to do so because they were not originally mandated by the city to have one.

“We didn’t just pull this out of the blue, we wouldn’t have thrown the event if they didn’t give us guidelines. We followed those guidelines,” spoke festival organizer Jared Stratton told KCBS. Stratton and the other organizers are accusing the Department of Public Health of trying to intimidate cannabis clubs into folding.

San Francisco Health Department official Larry Kessler took the extra measure to reach out to every medical marijuana dispensary in the city via e-mail, reminding them to operate business only where they are legally permitted to do so.

As for Stratton and his fellow organizers, they stated that should they not succeed in overturning the ruling by the city, they may simply move their events to another nearby city, such as Oakland or Daly City.