Pot Dispensaries Near Schools?
In "news to me", from The Stranger Slog, apparently there are a number of medical marijuana dispensaries around school zones. The DEA has warned 23 of them that they have to move or
..federal authorizes may raid the properties, seize their assets, and seek federal criminal charges,
Agent Barnes adds that the federal government makes no criminal exceptions for marijuana, even it it's "medical," a word that his letter writes in italics and quotation marks.
This would apply to the business as well as the property owner. I'll try to find out where these are but I'm sure it's probably something parents have noticed if one is near a school zone.
I applaud the DEA for this because public safety around schools is a city/county/state/fed responsibility and if we had more of it, more of our schools would feel safer.
..federal authorizes may raid the properties, seize their assets, and seek federal criminal charges,
Agent Barnes adds that the federal government makes no criminal exceptions for marijuana, even it it's "medical," a word that his letter writes in italics and quotation marks.
This would apply to the business as well as the property owner. I'll try to find out where these are but I'm sure it's probably something parents have noticed if one is near a school zone.
I applaud the DEA for this because public safety around schools is a city/county/state/fed responsibility and if we had more of it, more of our schools would feel safer.
Comments
Ask a clerk, or ask a teenager.
Those electronic bottlecaps can apparently be defeated rather easily, even if you haven't graduated from high school.
Wallyhood resident
lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
ComeOnPeople
A neighbor faces 40+ yrs in prison for using his pot dispensaries to distribute vast qtys of non-med mj. You can imagine the clientele who hung around outside. MJ is just another way for folks to escape reality, not self-medicate.
Oh and yes, my teen tells me it is much easier to get pot than booze or at least was until the grocery stores started selling booze. So I vote we back to the old liquor stores and have them sell pot too. Regulate and tax it.
FHP
I am not terribly keen on the dispensaries being so close to schools, nor am I keen on all the endcap piles of booze at the local groceries and drug stores, either. Word on the street is that there has been a huge uptick in shoplifting the hard liquor at the stores.
I am ok with keeping the hard booze, the prescription meds, and the pot in a less accessible location, be it behind the pharmacy counter where you need a scrip, or in a store where you need an 21-and-older id just to walk through the door. It is no skin off my back, as an adult, to whip out my id or my prescription, and it makes is that much harder for the kids to grab it and run. Just my 2 cents.
Wallyhood resident
After reading this story in the Times last night, I did a little looking and the consensus is 1000 feet is about 2 blocks - so a dispensary would have to be pretty close to a school zone to get nabbed by this, I would think.
I don't see any problem with medical marijuana. It is no more dangerous than what they dispense at pharmacies and certainly less harmful than the alcohol available in the grocery stores. Most marijuana dispensaries have secured entrances and check the identification of every single person before they're allowed access. To my knowledge, they are more secure than liquor stores, grocery stores, and even some pharmacies. So fearing these places is obsurdly ridiculous. My aunt has cancer and finds that marijuana helps her MORE than the anti-nausea pharmaceuticals...so if it's helpful, can't be overdosed on (all you do is fall asleep and/or get the munchies)- then STOP prosecuting these people and the industry of marijuana. Lets get involved in a positive way that supports everyone.
I must say, I agree. Once you have known someone terribly ill who has gotten far more pain/nausea relief from mj than from handfuls of big pharma drugs (many of which are far worse in terms of side effects, addictiveness, and possibility of death from overdose), it is hard to see medical pot as "the bad guy." I am no more alarmed by a well-regulated, secure pot dispensary near a school than a Walgreens drug store -- and much LESS alarmed than by stores (into which teens can walk freely) selling hard liquor and beer that can either be shoplifted or bought with fake ids (or no id).
Glad to hear that the baddies (like mirmac1's neighbor) are getting busted for abusing the law, but for all those folks out there fighting an otherwise losing game against pain and/or nausea, I hope reasonable, safe access to medical pot continues, and that the providers don't get harrassed out of business.
As someone who's mother died an excuciating death from cancer and with a(n extremely close) family member who can now rationalize continued recreational use (hey, I got pain too!), I say we must remain vigilant on how convenient it is to get prescribed and dispensed MJ on the same block. Otherwise, what's to risk your neighbor deciding 0-40 yrs in prison is worth the gamble.
Besides, don't know how many of these things are in Magnolia or wherever. Seems SW Seattle has more than its fair share.
What I am hoping for is the day that marijuana prescriptions for real pain are easy and legal to come by AND it is dispensed and regulated by pharmacies like any other drug. Or it is allowed for adult recreational use as well, and dispensed and regulated and heavily taxed like hard alcohol.
I am really disliking this nebulous area we are in, where anyone can obtain a scrip, the dispensaries are fairly unregulated, and popping up everywhere. Plus they are cash-run businesses (most banks refuse to do business with them, and they are becoming an attractant for robberies), and are still illegal under federal law. The current situation is rapidly becoming untenable.
Wallyhood resident
I tried marijuana in the 70s occasionally. I didn't like it, and I didn't like the people who did.
I didn't try it again until I became desperate after pain medications prescribed by my rheumatologist and orthopedic surgeon had side effects that made a theraputic dose impossible to achieve.
I have arthritis, both osteo and rheumatic, fibromyalgia and osteoporosis. I now walk with a cane and a brace, although at 54 my Dr tells me I am too young for a knee transplant.
I think marijuana should be regulated, legalized and taxed but I don't think I-502 is the answer as most people don't have the deep pockets to be able to afford the 25% tax the state is envisioning to bail itself out of its budget troubles.( amongst other reasons)
I know it does seem like there are a fair amount of dispensaries in the city, but the ones I frequent take their responsibility very seriously. They ask for ID and to see my prescription every single time- as they should. They only allow one person into the area where the meds are kept at a time. They have detailed information about the levels of CBD & THC of the various strains which helps to identify which kinds will work for me. I want to be able to function with manageable pain, not get "high".
I no longer have young children, but the availability of hard liquor at the local Safeway, where there have already been more than a few incidents, concerns me more than a regulated and monitored MMJ dispensary.
Pothead
SmokeyJoe