Reply to DC Council rejects emergency legislation to restore the 300ft buffer between dispensaries and schools

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "DC Council rejects emergency legislation to restore the 300ft buffer between dispensaries and schools"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Good lord, who cares?

Kids under 21 aren't even allowed to buy pot, why does it matter if it's being sold to legal, consenting adults in the vicinity?

If stores are selling to underage kids, that's a completely separate problem and can be dealt with separately without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Nobody flips their lid over restaurants serving cocktails or supermarkets selling beer near schools, why would pot be any different?[/quote]

1) The stores are NOT selling pot. They are gifting pot to customers who buy something else in an end-run around DC's pot legalization rules (which allow for legal possession and use of certain amounts of pot but do not permit the legal sale of it, unless it's medical marijuana, which is actually regulated in DC.

2) These loophole "gifting" shops attract a large volume of patrons with drug issues, who line up outside the shops until they open, since often supplies of the pot "gifts" are limited. These crowds often remain even after the pot has been distributed, to smoke on the sidewalk and hang out. Often other illegal behaviors ensue, including public consumption of alcohol and other illegal drugs, fighting, public urination and defamation, panhandling and harassing passerby, and passing out on the sidewalk.

3) The stores do not have to sell to kids to make this pot accessible to kids, because again, they aren't selling pot at all. They are giving it away. Some of them have extremely lax practices in terms of checking IDs, and in other situations, the person coming into procure the pot can easily give it to whomever they want once they leave the shop, including minors. Also the behavior outside these shops can lead to pot, alcohol, and other drugs being dropped and lying around, because so many of these people are high and just DGAF.

The gifting shops need to be SHUT DOWN. I don't care what Congress says, there has to be a way to do this as a municipality -- they pose an immediate threat to public health and safety. The cops have shut down some of the shops for obvious violations (stuff like not collect or paying taxes on their sales, giving pot to minors, and other illegal behavior), but there are now too many of the shops to parse between the "good" ones and the "bad" ones. They are a net negative. And the fact that several strips in DC where these shops have proliferated (including H Street NE) also have close proximity to elementary schools and a large volume of children and families just makes this more important AND easier to legally justify.

The Council should be going to bat for the people of this city over this issue, not rolling over and crying that their hands are tied. The issue should not have been allowed to proceed for as long as it has. The Council should be UNITED in closing down the pot gifting shops and should not only be passing this emergency litigation, they and Bowser should be actively pressing the issue in the press and forcing it with Congressional reps. It's a health and safety issue! Congresspeople live in DC.

This makes me angry on about 8 different levels. Half the council actually had its act together for once and the other half is sitting around with their thumbs up they're a$$es acting like this isn't even an important issue. I'm so sick of this stupid city at this point.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics