{"id":10632,"date":"2015-03-04T19:42:48","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T19:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=10632"},"modified":"2016-09-20T17:51:14","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T17:51:14","slug":"investigation-reveals-medical-marijuana-is-getting-into-school-kids-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2015\/03\/investigation-reveals-medical-marijuana-is-getting-into-school-kids-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation Reveals Medical Marijuana Is Getting Into School Kids\u2019 Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is outrageous, but consistent with what is happening in other medi-pot states. Increased access and reduced perception of harm results in more abuse. So called \u2018Medical marijuana\u2019 was always about opening the floodgates to legal availability of the substance and this news item shows what is happening in many areas of the US.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Investigation Reveals Medical Marijuana Is Getting Into School Kids\u2019 Hands<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a CBS2 News exclusive, Investigative Reporter David Goldstein uncovers medical marijuana being sold to school-aged kids in broad daylight, within walking distance of local schools. He reported the city was quick to act when he brought his disturbing findings to officials. Goldstein recorded many instances of adults buying the marijuana and quickly turning around and re-selling it to the underage kids. The students were shown, many times, smoking the pot minutes after leaving their schools. The student\u2019s faces were covered because most appeared to be under 18 \u2014 the legal age for receiving doctor\u2019s approval to buy medical marijuana without a parents\u2019 consent. So exactly how did these kids get their hands on it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our hidden cameras caught the students paying someone else to get it for them \u2014 like this one man who didn\u2019t want his face shown on TV. On most afternoons, residents of the area say kids like these gather on Barton Avenue, near Western in Hollywood. On a map, it\u2019s easy to see the area is walking distance to several schools. With their sneakers, skateboards and backpacks, it looks like any afterschool meeting place. Until you see what\u2019s taking place on the corner \u2014 Natural Remedies Caregivers, a marijuana dispensary. Goldstein reports, \u201cwe saw plenty of activity.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In one instance, a group of young women is shown handing a man on a skateboard some money. He gets on the skateboard, then walks into the store. A few minutes later, he comes out carrying a white bag. He passes out what looks like pill jars to the girls on the street The jars are similar to one Goldstein found in the bushes near the dispensary. They\u2019re used as containers for the pot. It says right on the label, \u201cNot for children \u2014 Keep out of reach.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t seem to stop the seller or the buyers. The girls are shown opening up the jars and smelling their newly-purchased medical marijuana. Goldstein and his producer also observed a customer leaving the dispensary two times in one afternoon to hand off the contents inside his white bags.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The man is shown delivering the jars to two kids on the street \u2014 then he just crumples up the bag and throws it over his head. One teen is still holding his school notebook under his arm when he is shown tossing a jar to his friend who takes a whiff to check it out. On another occasion, Goldstein saw two teens buying and selling what appears to be medical marijuana \u2014 exchanged openly in broad daylight. On another day, our cameras caught a group of teens collect their money. Their connection comes up to grab it. He goes into the dispensary and comes out with the tell-tale white bag. He distributes the contents to his teenaged customers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Goldstein then confronts the man. \u201cYou just went into the dispensary and bought pot for these guys, didn\u2019t you?\u201d he asks. \u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d the man replies.Goldstein tries again. \u201cWe just saw you go in there and you bought pot for these guys.\u201d This time the man hit our camera and also made an obscene gesture.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The teens also had nothing to say. \u201cHow old are you?\u201d he asked several.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Goldstein then asked to speak to a manager at the dispensary. He was told the manager \u201cwasn\u2019t around\u201d and that a security guard hired by the store to police the area said he didn\u2019t see anything going on. \u201cYou are the security guard, you don\u2019t see these people coming in here and then selling to kids right around the corner?,\u201d Goldstein asks, \u201cand you don\u2019t see anything, right?\u201d The guard closed the door.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Residents said they see it and complained to police and nothing was done. \u201cWell, it\u2019s very frustrating,\u201d said resident Dazzier Jimenez, \u201cbecause you know, we have kids around the area, so they see that. It\u2019s a bad example for our youth.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Goldstein asked City Attorney Mike Feuer why this dispensary was allowed to remain open. His office oversees LA\u2019s Prop D marijuana law. He said the dispensary complies with all the written requirements, as far as being a safe distance from schools and parks. After we told him what was going on, authorities acted.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can report that because you provided us with that location,\u201d Feuer said, \u201cthe police conducted an investigation at the site and last evening they arrested an individual, an adult for allegedly selling medical marijuana to a minor just outside the facility.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The manager of the dispensary also emailed Goldstein. \u201cWe are doing everything in our power to stop the illegal patient solicitations outside of the building and to also stop second-hand transactions from happening,\u201d the manager wrote. Residents wonder why it took so long. \u201cWhy are there now arrests when there haven\u2019t been any in the past?,\u201d said Jimenez. \u201cQuite frankly,\u201d says LAPD Commander Andrew Smith,\u00a0 \u201cit was not a big problem location. It was not known to us as a problem location.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Police and prosecutors told Goldstein that after seeing CBS2\u2019s undercover video, they are now cracking down.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Source: <\/span><\/span>http:\/\/losangeles.cbslocal.com\/2015\/02\/25\/only-on-2-investigation-reveals-medical-marijuana-is-getting-into-school-kids-hands\/<\/span><\/a>February 25, 2015 10:45 PM<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is outrageous, but consistent with what is happening in other medi-pot states. Increased access and reduced perception of harm results in more abuse. So called \u2018Medical marijuana\u2019 was always about opening the floodgates to legal availability of the substance and this news item shows what is happening in many areas of the US. Investigation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-affairs","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}