A formal protest is being lodged with the city over plans to open a medical marijuana dispensary in downtown D.C. across the street from a charter school.
Retailers filed with the city’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration with the plan to open “DC Smoke” at 8th and D streets NW near the public charter school Basis DC and a day care center.
“This is a bad idea. It’s just a bad idea all the way around … there are better places for it and I want to advance the notion that we look for a different place that doesn’t have the conflict,” said Peter Christiansen, a resident of the Penn Quarter neighborhood where the school is located.
At its Tuesday night monthly meeting, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C voted 4-0 to heed the concerns from the school and the neighbors by filing a formal letter of protest over the dispensary plans with the ABCA.
“I have had over 30 or 40 parent emails over the last 24 hours and multiple phone calls … there’s a lot of concern here and the community needs time to make those concerns heard … this is a bad choice with negative community implications,” said Alexander Rose-Henig, the head of Basis DC.
A lawyer representing the business hoping to open the cannabis dispensary offered assurance that only registered patients could enter the dispensary, which would be equipped with 21 surveillance cameras and exterior lighting.
UND Necessities LLC said in a statement that it appreciates the concerns of the ANC 2C community, and “looks forward to having productive discussions with its members to work toward an amicable resolution.”
The company said that its medical cannabis retailer license application was approved by ABCA, as well as its planned location.
“Once licensed, UND will operate as an upscale medical cannabis retailer, whose customers are limited to registered medical cannabis patients over 21 years of age,” the company’s representation said.
This story was updated with a statement from the company.
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