Since we last reported on the marijuana dispensaries popping up on Lake City Way, including Greenside Medical at 9804 Lake City Way N.E., and Delta 9 at 8007 Lake City Way N.E., at least two more are open or coming soon.
Although currently Delta 9 is the only one actually within the Maple Leaf neighborhood, it appears there soon will be two when MMJ Co-op opens at 8251 Lake City Way, the former location of Willie’s BBQ.
The sign posted on the window states:
We are open – under construction. Bakery coming soon!
And let’s not forget Greenworks Cooperative at 11064 Lake City Way N.E., which despite not being in Maple Leaf is still nearby and worth a mention.
So far, we haven’t noted any disturbances at the dispensaries that are currently operating, but one neighbor wrote us and called the recent influx “alarming,” and is wondering what other neighbors think.
@Anonymous, I don’t think we should make drug policies based on your personal psychotic problems. And we no more need the expense and overreach of the Feds tracking pot smokers as we do the Feds tracking beer drinkers. It baffles me when people want to grow the power, scope, size and cost of government at a time when most think government is too expensive and interferes too much in our personal choices and private lives.
@”…but marijuana isn’t poisonous even in very large quantities.”
Maybe not but it doesn’t change the fact that the first and only time I ever smoked it I experienced a psychotic break. You just never know.
There are plenty of cheap medications which help with things like nausea and wont kill your brain cells or cause a psychotic break or make someone sound or feel like a couch potato. But if people want it legalized, fine. Let’s have a drug database like other states and track it and it’s users.
The feds already started cracking down on pot in Oregon so these shops wont be around long here. Lake City is to Maple Leaf what Aurora Avenue North is to Haller Lake…
Just legalize it. Then it can be studied and someone can figure out what it’s really good for. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s probably a little worse for you than eating two cupcakes for desert.
The cops should not be dealing with this. Then they could concentrate on people who are violent or driving their car like an ass.
Our drug policy has been racist and has caused untold pain and suffering around the world.
Pot is not worth the trouble. Just legalize it.
I would like to see it legalized and then sold in pharmacies. What pharmacies sell now is synthetic THC and it doesn’t work as well as the natural grown stuff.
I am disappointed. When I saw MMJ co-op I thought it was a farm co-op opening there. The parking is terrible there and if it is as busy as Greenside, the neighbors won’t be happy about that.
I live just up the hill on the Meadowbrook side, of Greenside. The traffic is much worse than when TubCove was there and the parking is all over the place. Frequently the place reeks and can be smelled in your car when pulled up at that light on 98th. I wonder when the neighborhood will reach its saturation point of these places.
Is it a coincidence that as the marijuana stores move in there is a spike in property crime? Maple Leaf’s numbers are quite a bit worse than last year, according to SPD. (The area where I live, not far from the new marijuana store in the old LC’s Kitchen, has been plagued by burglars and other petty criminals since October, not too long after the weed emporium opened its doors.)
Speaking of which, the way that LC’s Kitchen was booted by the owner of the building to install their nephew’s (son’s?) pot store is offensive in a neighborhood full of families.
Let’s just legalize the stuff and sell it through the state liquor stores and stop pretending that these “clinics” are all serving a medical need.
Thanks Dan and Meadowbrook for more refreshing voices of reason. I’m pretty sure some the people commenting on this story are the same ones that knew the earth would open up and swallow Mapleleaf whole if the strip club was permitted to open. We’re all still waiting to see that aren’t we, note to self: stop using Rev Camping’s date calculations.
A quick Google map search clearly shows that this is not an all-out assault on Lake City, they’re popping up all over the city. In other cities like San Francisco they have blended in just fine. Sure I’d like to have seen the BBQ place stay, but an empty business front is far worse for the community than MMJ. I don’t have any hard data but I would guess that cheap 24 packs of Bud at the 7-11 across the street will create far more crime in the neighborhood than the Bud MMJ is selling. It would be nice if this could get resolved at the federal level but with the logging, alcohol and pharmaceutical industries all lobbying against it the chances of that happening are slim to none. Washington DC is not going to touch the subject unless they know it will help them win an election and that takes action at the local level. Just ask one of the “Occupy” knot heads.
I’ve lived in the ‘hood since 1987. I do NOT agree that Rue Pierre is sliding downhill. In the time I’ve been here the restaurants and retail offerings have not only increased, but their quality has improved. The architecture of recent housing developments has been an asset to the neighborhood. There have been improvements to the street scape (sidewalks, lighting) as well.
Transit service has improved (though, IMHO, has a ways to go).
Our block watch receives regular crime updates. I have not noticed a spike during the last few years.
I wish the bbq joint had survived there, they were open after the bars closed and I live close by, but it didn’t. Nor did the gas engine repair shop after it. While it would have been awesome if another restaurant or hip business moved in there as the building stood empty for so long, it didn’t happen.
Do you think property value drops more if these spaces remain empty with a bunch of for lease signs up or if they get filled with pot dispensaries? My guess is it’s a wash. The strip club and other dispensaries have turned out to be quiet neighbors without all the things people were worried about, but I too worry in the long run what it does to the neighborhood image and my home’s resale value. Not enough to open a business in one of these empty storefronts though!
ps- Is the Caleb Powell above the same one that went to the UW in the ’80s? If so, long time no see man!
I slightly change my stance given that I failed to remember that federally, these places are not legal. Regardless of peoples “opinions” on the benefits/harmfulness and whether or not it should be legal, the fact of the matter is that it is an Illegal substance right now. Until that law changes, these places are distributing an Illegal substance and violating federal law. End of story!
All opinions about whether or not these places should be in the neighborhood are mute until the substance they distribute is legalized.
I suggest Andrew stick to the topic and leave guns and thinly veiled threats of violence out of the discussion.
He’s misinformed, anyway. Seattle Municipal Code gives no such right to discharge a firearm due to depradating pests. In fact what it says in in the CRIMINAL code (SMC section 12A.14.071) is:
“A person is guilty of discharge of a firearm if he or she wilfully discharges a firearm in a place where there is a reasonable likelihood that humans, domestic animals or property will be jeopardized.”
@Joey: Marijuana pot shops in my neighborhood is my business. Naw, I am not upset, nor will it give migraines, but more of these shops going in (and sorry, but they are illegal) and more topless joints, gun shops….what’s next? Lake City is heading toward slum status or perhaps we are already there. Crime is up in the area. That may just be a “coincidence”.
I love people and do not judge on social status. I have housed homeless (friends), and I give to charity monthly. I have volunteered and will continue to do so. However, I believe strongly in accountability, following the law and if the law is wrong, working together to change it. Accountability is something strongly missing in our society and has created many of our continuing social ills.
And I DO care about my property values as these “businesses” are close to my neighborhood. How many of these businesses have popped up in Medina, Laurelhurst, Wedgewood or any other upper scale neighborhood?
Big deal, marijuana is medically speaking safer then peanuts. We tried the “war” approach, we’ve spent over a trillion dollars, and all we have to show for it is the largest prison population in the world and drugs in every school across America. Marijuana is here to stay, all the ridiculous horror stories are based in as much fact as vampire movies, and this absurd mindset of reefer madness is becoming more taboo everyday. Stop wasting our money fighting some fictitious boogie man. More businesses = more revenue = more jobs
That’s a good thing. We’ve got more to worry about then people who use cannabis, sick or otherwise. We all need a good dose of minding our own business.
“Another Maple Leaf Resident” and “Me” I must respectfully disagree with you. First of all, this form of distribution IS illegal. They should be shut down yesterday. Second, if you have a prescription, marijuana is available right now from bartel’s, wallgreens and the like in pill form. There is no need for pot dispensaries. The FACT of the matter is that marijuana is addictive, has over 200 harmful chemicals (only about 40 marginally medically beneficial chemicals) and smoking or ingesting pot can lead to permanent structural changes in the brain making one more prone to depression, paranoia and anxiety.
You mentioned alcohol and tobacco in your posts. You’re, those are poisons too… but that’s not what this discussion is about and neither Jon nor S even raised them as a point of conversation. Stick the topic. Pot is not legal and should not be legal. I cause immeasurably more harm than the little (if any good it can bring). It’s true that you can’t overdose on pot—it (alone) can’t kill you, and you’re right that it’s not really on par with heroine or cocain, but it does promote serious mental disorders and some newer studies have even argued that it can be linked to lowered intelligence and cognitive reasoning. It is absolutely not in society’s best interest to allow marijuana use.
The city says that I am allowed to shoot a crow, raccoon or other animal if I catch it depredating my property. If I have to smell my foolish neighbor’s pot smoke wafting into my yard and depredating it… well…
I agree with you, littleleers that it should be rescheduled but how do you think controversial federal laws change? There is a reason that we have states rights, so things that might be to0 touchy to be changed all at once with a change in national policy can still have a chance to change state by state. It’s the first step and if you think (as well you should) that marijuana should be legal then you should embrace this. It doesn’t inherently mean the neighborhood is going down hill.
Also, S and Jon, if that’s really what you think because you’ve bought into government propaganda (I know saying that makes me sound like a burnt out hippy but its true) then either listen to Another Maple Leaf Resident and find out for your self (really, please look it up) that there is no way in hell that your kids could somehow be poisoned by second hand canibus smoke (or even directly smoking, although that can cause some health problems, nothing like cigarettes or alcohol of course, but still) or continue with your plan and move your family away, I’m sure we’ll all be much happier. Well that was a long sentence.
What is new? Lake City has been sliding down for a long time. Reminds a bit of the old downtown First Avenue…or at least it is heading that way.
As for the marijuana and as a medical professional I do think there are legit medical uses for it. That being said, it is still ILLEGAL to dispense in this fashion. Seattle thinks it is cute to skirt the Feds! Last I heard, even Gov. Gregoire would not endorse these shops. So what are they doing popping up in our neighborhoods?
The first step is for Congress or the DEA to change the status of marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug (same as heroin). Put it into a Schedule 3 or 4. Then once that is done, it could be sold legally and within the law in regular licensed pharmacies. If it is medical marijuana then why is it not available at your local Bartells or Walgreen’s. It is AGAINST FEDERAL LAWS RIGHT NOW. Marijuana shops hiding out in neighborhoods and operating illegally (despite the State of Washington or Seattle giving the o.k.) is not ok! Go all the way and legalize or give it a lower Scheduled status.
Jon, in fact alcohol is poison, but marijuana isn’t poisonous even in very large quantities.
It’s people like you, full of disinformation and fear mongering regurgitated from ancient tobacco company campaigns and the “War on Drugs,” who perpetuate the utterly ridiculous legal and cultural frameworks that keep marijuana in the same discussion as heroin, crystal meth, and other really dangerous drugs. Stop spreading lies and learn the truth. Most of all, try to cut back on all those violent thoughts, which are far more dangerous than some kids smoking pot.
S and Jon, there is nothing inherently horrible about these businesses, though it’s true they need to be regulated carefully. Relax and we’ll all be fine.
EDIT: They SHOULD NOT be cutting corners.
I’m with S. It should not be legalized and they should be cutting corners with the law like this to pretend that it’s legal now.
Some people say pot is calming. The renters in the house next door to us smoke all the time (and I’m pretty sure they sell, though I haven’t found hard evidence–just the steady stream of high-school, and college-age kids that stop by for 5 minutes at a time). It definitely does not mellow me out. Everytime I smell it I want to punch someone. If I can smell it, then that poison is getting in my lungs and my kids lungs. Makes we want to beat them and call it self-defense.
I am tired of all these horrible buisnesses popping up so close to where a lot of children live. First the Strip club, now all these pot head places. It better not smell at all. MAybe it’s time for me and my family to move. I don’t want my daughter to grow up around that.
By Google Maps there are now four in a 1.8 mile span of Lake City Way.
Hmm, this annoying rabble-rouser poses more of an “alarming” problem than any marijuana dispensary. Though they are both equally harmless.
Follow the rules, keep a low key and please control the odor. The one up on Greenwood makes the whole area smell like skunk road kill.
Beyond that, don’t really care.
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I think we have all noticed them but more with bemusement and curiosity. Will this mean more income for restaurants and minimarts when people have the munchies? Could be good for the local economy. Also I am of an age that I may need to have a dispensary near me. Do they deliver?
Not too worried.
So long as they pay taxes and don’t attract violent behavior (armed robberies?) I welcome any business growth in Seattle. I just hope they’re not as skunky smelling as the one across from my work.
That said, I’d rather it just be legalized. I want those tax revenues!
1986: Maple Leaf voted Seattle neighborhood of the year
2012: Maple Leaf voted Mary Jane distribution neighborhood of the year
Ha ha. Just kidding, I still love Maple Leaf and as long as they stay fairly discreet without trying to put some 7 foot by 7 foot sign with a pot leaf on it and stay on Ghetto way, I mean Lake City way, I don’t really care.