See this 09/09/2011 message passed along by ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood:
A resident of the Unit Block of Florida Avenue NW shared the following concerns to facilitate dialogue about medical marijuana in the community.
``Wow!! Soon our neighborhood will be the epicenter of feel-good pharmaceuticals in the District of Columbia. New businesses are sprouting up everywhere around us. One night, Volunteers of America slipped into the Madison at 52 Florida Ave. NW and is distributing psychotropic drugs from that location. About a block away, we will have a ``legal`` marijuana distribution operation on North Capitol Street (just south of the Halfway House on Quincy Place NW, just east of the Mental Health Clinic on Florida Avenue NW, around the corner from the S.O.M.E. Soup Kitchen and n nestled in between the Ex-Offender Project and the Homeless Transgender Clinic on North Capitol Street NW).
Throw in the crack operation which comes and goes along First Street and a liquor store on every corner, and we service about every drug culture out there. In retrospect, it is regrettable that the methadone clinic has closed. The opiate crowd is not represented. Think how diverse our neighborhood will become with the influx of the new consumers. A heavy burden will be lifted from MPD. Why chase the drug trade when it will be impossible to determine the legal from the illegal? Now that we have attracted them here, it is only right that we provide accommodations. After all, smoking is prohibited in most enclosed areas such as restaurants, taverns, fast food outlets, etc. It would be unsightly to allow people to sit on our steps and nod off, plus that marijuana smell can be pretty obnoxious. My suggestion is that we face reality and create space for our new neighbors. The new Florida Ave. Park is now just beginning a million-dollar facelift. As we all know, the old Park was a haven for alcoholics, druggers, prostitutes and the like. It was seldom that you walked by and did not detect the odor of burning marijuana. The original idea for the new Park was to create a space where children could play and the neighborhood could come together. This is unrealistic. The City is just wasting its money. The new consumers will be attracted to the new Park just as bees are to honey. Forget the children`s play area, the horseshoe pits and the basketball courts. The Park needs outside toilet facilities, space and safe furniture for those who are physically impaired while under the influence of the pharmaceuticals we are providing. Sunset liquor store can expand to a head shop to conveniently provide pipes, bongs, cigarette paper and perhaps even water pipes for use in the Park. Those who opposed gentrification (whatever that means) will now have the last laugh. Just as our fragile neighborhood was getting over the violence, drug trafficking, high crime and unsafe streets of yesteryear, it looks like it`s headed back. This is progress.``
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Hugh Youngblood
ANC, SMD 5C03
240 then 925 then 1079
A resident of the Unit Block of Florida Avenue NW shared the following concerns to facilitate dialogue about medical marijuana in the community.
``Wow!! Soon our neighborhood will be the epicenter of feel-good pharmaceuticals in the District of Columbia. New businesses are sprouting up everywhere around us. One night, Volunteers of America slipped into the Madison at 52 Florida Ave. NW and is distributing psychotropic drugs from that location. About a block away, we will have a ``legal`` marijuana distribution operation on North Capitol Street (just south of the Halfway House on Quincy Place NW, just east of the Mental Health Clinic on Florida Avenue NW, around the corner from the S.O.M.E. Soup Kitchen and n nestled in between the Ex-Offender Project and the Homeless Transgender Clinic on North Capitol Street NW).
Throw in the crack operation which comes and goes along First Street and a liquor store on every corner, and we service about every drug culture out there. In retrospect, it is regrettable that the methadone clinic has closed. The opiate crowd is not represented. Think how diverse our neighborhood will become with the influx of the new consumers. A heavy burden will be lifted from MPD. Why chase the drug trade when it will be impossible to determine the legal from the illegal? Now that we have attracted them here, it is only right that we provide accommodations. After all, smoking is prohibited in most enclosed areas such as restaurants, taverns, fast food outlets, etc. It would be unsightly to allow people to sit on our steps and nod off, plus that marijuana smell can be pretty obnoxious. My suggestion is that we face reality and create space for our new neighbors. The new Florida Ave. Park is now just beginning a million-dollar facelift. As we all know, the old Park was a haven for alcoholics, druggers, prostitutes and the like. It was seldom that you walked by and did not detect the odor of burning marijuana. The original idea for the new Park was to create a space where children could play and the neighborhood could come together. This is unrealistic. The City is just wasting its money. The new consumers will be attracted to the new Park just as bees are to honey. Forget the children`s play area, the horseshoe pits and the basketball courts. The Park needs outside toilet facilities, space and safe furniture for those who are physically impaired while under the influence of the pharmaceuticals we are providing. Sunset liquor store can expand to a head shop to conveniently provide pipes, bongs, cigarette paper and perhaps even water pipes for use in the Park. Those who opposed gentrification (whatever that means) will now have the last laugh. Just as our fragile neighborhood was getting over the violence, drug trafficking, high crime and unsafe streets of yesteryear, it looks like it`s headed back. This is progress.``
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Hugh Youngblood
ANC, SMD 5C03
240 then 925 then 1079
Please do not compare marijuana with other hard drugs like crack and heroine. The government may lump them together but that is ridiculous. People do not become violent on marijuana like they do on alcohol, crack, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs a resident I would much rather have a legal dispensary than another liquor store. Please keep an open mind, do your research and not judge this establishment before you know all the facts.
Does the concerned resident understand that DC's medical marijuana laws aren't the same as California's? They're actually incredibly restrictive and only a handful of conditions qualify.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis resident's point of view is some bullshit. #legalizeit
ReplyDeleteAs a resident, I would much rather have a productive service that all can benefit from that is neither a liquor store nor a medical marijuana dispensary. Why are those our only options, @Noodlepress? This is the last thing the neighborhood needs - I 100% agree with the letter submitted by the Florida Ave resident.
ReplyDelete