D.C. officials on Thursday denied a challenge to a medical marijuana dispensary opening just steps away from a Northwest preschool, highlighting tensions between the city’s budding cannabis industry and residents who fear children could get prematurely exposed to drugs.
The city’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration sided unanimously with Green Theory dispensary in a 3-0 vote to dismiss a neighborhood-led legal protest to their opening.
Green Theory owner Jonathan Crandall said the dispensary will open for business on Monday. The grand opening is planned for April 27.
The ABCA’s ruling left a sour taste in the mouths of parents who sparred with the city over the now-finalized location.
“They’re putting cannabis over kids, and they’re serving the interests of the cannabis industry,” Lucy Sullivan, the parent of a student at a nearby elementary school, told The Washington Times. “There’s no parent or anybody that works with kids that thinks that stores selling marijuana, marijuana gummies, marijuana cookies, is a good idea to have these kinds of stores next door to schools, next door to playgrounds, next door to libraries.”
Thursday’s vote reaffirmed the ABCA’s decision last month to approve Green Theory’s business license in the tony Palisades neighborhood,
