EXCLUSIVE: Catalyst’s battle for Fontana

A mural in Fontana of A.B.Miller, who is credited with founding the city early in the 20th century, Wikicommons, Photo by: Mracew
Eight years after Californians voted to legalize REC, access remains a key stumbling block. The state has far fewer dispensaries per capita than Colorado, Michigan and other large markets. And the retailers that exist tend to be clustered in big cities.
The imbalance creates a macro problem for the industry trying to compete against the illegal market. But as dispensaries chip away at the issue by opening in cannabis deserts, they encounter a micro problem as well: Cities have a great deal of control over who will get to open stores and where.
Each city . . .