No More Marijuana!!

The proposition to disallow Medical Marijuana Dispensaries within a 1,000 foot buffer from children-filled locations is vital to our future generation. A 2006 Monitoring the Future Survey found that 15.7% of 8th-graders have tried marijuana. These eight graders are barely in their teenage years, and yet they have experienced illegal drugs. This shows us that the banned substance, marijuana, is too easily accessible in our country. This, in part, is made possible by the countless amounts of marijuana dispensaries found in the City of Los Angeles. A recent look at Los Angeles tells us that there are close to 100 dispensaries in this weed-abundant city! Due to President Obama’s regulations to not persecute these marijuana dispensaries, it will be nearly impossible to ban them, but the least our city can do is disallow these establishments to be easily accessible to our younger generation of children. The only solution is to ban dispensaries within 1,000 feet of a school or park.
In the map above, I have geocoded the school and parks of the City of Los Angeles and included the proposed 1,000 foot buffer, in blue. I also geocoded the marijuana dispensaries in a section of Los Angeles. In the zoomed in box to the left of the map, one can clearly see that multiple dispensaries are located within these buffers. This allows the children who occupy these schools and/or parks easy access to get their hands on weed. The fact that these dispensaries are so close and attainable to these children is a source of temptation for them. If a 10 year old student walks passed a marijuana dispensary on his way home from school every day, he seems more likely to experiment with the banned substance than a child who rarely comes into contact with a dispensary. This is why we have devised such a plan to limit the locations of these establishments.
I am not saying to ban all of the dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles, but to carefully chose where their foundations can be built. Our future generations will eventually be taking care of us, and I am sure all of us would prefer our caretakers to not be marijuana abusers.