Parents: Keep medical marijuana dispensaries away from kids
About 3/4 of parents say dispensaries should not be near schools
February 18, 2019
Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
Seven in 10 parents think they should have a say in whether dispensaries are located near their child's school or daycare and most say they should be banned within a certain distance of those facilities.
With medical marijuana now legal in about two-thirds of U.S. states, there's growing concern about how dispensaries may impact surrounding neighborhoods and communities.
And parents in a new national poll overwhelmingly agree on one place dispensaries should not be allowed: anywhere near children.
Seven in 10 parents think they should have a say in whether dispensaries are located near their child's school or daycare and most say they should be banned within a certain distance of those facilities, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at the University of Michigan.
Highest on the list of concerns was the risk impaired drivers may pose to children -- with nearly half of parents saying this was a significant worry. A recent study found that more than half of people taking cannabis for chronic pain report driving while high.
"Medical marijuana has become legal in the majority of states but there is wide variation in state and local policies that regulate the location and operation of dispensaries," says poll co-director Sarah Clark, M.P.H.
"The majority of parents feel strongly that they should give local input on decisions regarding where dispensaries may open and also support limitations on how close dispensaries could be to children's areas."
Aside from the top concern involving drivers under the influence, some parents also worried about the possibility of a child finding and ingesting edible marijuana inadvertently left behind by a dispensary customer (48 percent), and teens having easier opportunities accessing marijuana (49 percent.) Other dispensary concerns included setting a bad example for kids (45 percent) and bringing violent crime to the area (35 percent).
Three quarters of parents indicated general support for legal medical marijuana, including one third of parents who support the option for children. Just 26 percent of parents opposed medical marijuana.
At the same time, most parents agreed that dispensaries should be banned within a certain distance of elementary schools, middle and high schools, and daycare centers. Forty-four percent of parents also believed dispensaries should not be close to places of worship. Support for such bans was equally strong among both mothers and fathers, younger and older parents, and parents of higher and lower income.
"Most parents seem to understand that marijuana can have legitimate medical benefits, but parents also have major concerns about the risks that medical marijuana dispensaries might pose to children," Clark says. "When it comes to where dispensaries are located, many parents feel that any area near children is too close for comfort."
Most parents (77 percent) agreed that medical marijuana dispensaries should have the same regulations as liquor stores for where they can be located. Meanwhile, 52 percent of parents said dispensaries should have the same rights as other businesses. Nearly all parents (90 percent) felt dispensaries should undergo inspections to ensure they are following all regulations.
Nearly half of parents (45 percent) said that medical marijuana is legal in their state, and 24 percent knew there was at least one medical marijuana dispensary in their community. Only 20 percent reported that their state or community has regulations about where dispensaries can be located, while 59 percent did not know if such regulations exist.
While most parents wanted to be consulted about locating a dispensary near their child's school or daycare, this may prove difficult, Clark says. There is no consistent state or local framework to regulate the location and operations of dispensaries. Some states may have added legal complexities differentiating the sale of medical versus recreational marijuana.
It may also be confusing about whether parents need to contact elected officials or commissions, and if they should focus on the state or local level when an application is filed for a new dispensary. Decisions about the location of new dispensaries could be made through a state law, a local zoning regulation, or other action.
"Parents who want to share their views about dispensaries before any open in their school's neighborhood may have limited opportunities to do so. They may not even be aware that a specific dispensary location is under consideration until the decision has already been made," Clark says.
"The lack of established standards may lead officials to enact policies that may not address parents' concerns," Clark adds. "Parents who want to provide input about local dispensaries may need to take the initiative to learn about the rules for opening a dispensary in their community and what steps they should follow to be involved in these decisions."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190218094005.htm
All politics -- and cannabis marketing -- are local
Washington, Colorado provide insight for California
December 14, 2017
Science Daily/University of California - Davis
California's legal cannabis market, opening for business on Jan. 1, is expected to quickly grow to be the largest in the nation and worth more than $5 billion a year.
County voting on Proposition 64 that led the state here -- to legalizing sales for recreational use -- can offer insight into how medical marijuana dispensaries will now market themselves, according to research from the University of California, Davis.
"The way that communities vote and the values they have are going to have an impact on how this industry's going to evolve over time," said Greta Hsu, a professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and lead author on the paper, soon to be published in the journal Organizational Science.
Hsu draws her conclusions from the experiences of Washington and Colorado. She and her co-authors from Yale and Emory universities examined county voting patterns in the 2012 referendums that legalized marijuana sales in the two states and how medical marijuana dispensaries responded.
In communities where the majority voted against such initiatives, medical marijuana dispensaries maintained a more traditional approach, accentuating the therapeutic benefits of marijuana as an alternative medicine.
However, where the majority voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana sales, medical marijuana dispensaries adopted marketing strategies that de-emphasized the medical orientation and sought to attract recreational customers.
Analysis of dispensary reviews, descriptions
The researchers analyzed information, reviews and descriptions of more than 1,000 medical cannabis businesses, using WeedMaps.com, a crowdsourcing website that is considered the "Yelp of cannabis" for dispensaries and other retailers. The researchers developed a coding system for the language in order to track trends across the two states.
"Some of these dispensaries, when you look at them, they emphasize medicine a lot, and they emphasize their ties to the local community," said Hsu. "Others just emphasize convenience and price."
Marketing recreational vs. medical marijuana
Some clusters of dispensaries were more conservative in their marketing, with statements like: "We aim to educate our patients about cannabis treatments and other alternative health approaches to supplement their medicine."
Despite legalization's substantial disruption to their industry, these businesses continued with their original identity focused on therapy and the patients, said Hsu. They tended to be in counties where the majority voted against legalizing recreational marijuana.
Dispensaries that embraced the new recreational market took more risk by advertising to a broader, emerging consumer class, which has been bolstered by a growing tourism industry.
Supporters for these cannabis businesses emphasized the benefits to the local economy, public health and social justice, casting marijuana as less harmful than alcohol. Dispensaries with this more recreational-oriented marketing tended to be in counties that voted in favor of legalizing recreational use.
Legalization and regulation in California
Communities hold a great deal of power in affecting how dispensaries decide to market themselves, according to Hsu.
In 2009, California was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana, and Proposition 64 legalized recreational marijuana in the state beginning on Jan. 1, 2018. The state has unveiled a new licensing process for the cultivation, manufacturing and sale of marijuana, which is divided into both medicinal and recreational (or adult use) branches.
However, the law gives local municipalities flexibility in deciding how easily dispensaries can operate within their boundaries. Some counties have chosen to ban all dispensaries. Others are carefully regulating sales and businesses through zoning and taxes.
While 57 percent statewide voted in favor of Proposition 64 in 2016, a majority of voters in 18 counties did not. This included Kern County, which recently announced a ban on all marijuana businesses, including existing medicinal dispensaries.
Other applications for research
Hsu said the research contributes to understanding about how local conditions or cultural changes drive dynamics in a broad range of markets including rise of organic agriculture and the growth of energy and wind power.
"Organizations in these changing markets have to think very carefully about how they want to position themselves and about the strategic choices they make," said Hsu.
The paper is titled "Co-opt or Co-exist? A Study of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries' Identity-based Responses to Recreation-use Legalization in Colorado and Washington." The co-authors are Balázs Kovács, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale, and Özgecan Koçak, associate professor of organization and management at Emory.
Hsu, who is an expert in organizational behavior and theory, is continuing related research. She is also studying how cannabis dispensaries in several states are adjusting to changing markets.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdg6js_BwT8&feature=youtu.be
Link to paper: https://gsm.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/cannabis_os_final.pdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171214153334.htm
Closing medical marijuana dispensaries increases crime
July 11, 2017
Science Daily/University of California, Irvine, The Paul Merage School of Business
A new study published in the July issue of the Journal of Urban Economics finds that contrary to popular belief, medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs) reduce crime in their immediate areas.
In the study, titled, "Going to pot? The impact of dispensary closures on crime," researchers Tom Y. Chang from the USC Marshall School of Business, and Mireille Jacobson from The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine, examined the short-term mass closing of hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles that took place in 2010.
"Contrary to popular wisdom, we found an immediate increase in crime around dispensaries ordered to close relative to those allowed to remain open," said Jacobson.
The two researchers found similar results when they examined restaurant closures.
"The connection between restaurants and MMDs is that they both contribute to the 'walkability score' of a given area. Areas with higher scores have more 'eyes upon the street' a factor that is proven to deter some types of crime," said Jacobson.
The types of crime most impacted by MMD and restaurant closures were property crime and theft from vehicles. The researchers attributed this result to the fact that these types of crimes are most plausibly deterred by bystanders.
"Our results demonstrate that the dispensaries were not the crime magnets that they were often described as, but instead reduced crime in their immediate vicinity," said Jacobson.
When Chang and Jacobson examined the impact of temporary restaurant closures in Los Angeles County, they found an increase in crime similar to what they found with MMDs. They also found that once a restaurant reopened, crime immediately disappeared.
Jacobson added, "We can conclude from our research that retail businesses are effective in lowering crime, even when the retail business is a medical marijuana dispensary."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170711125704.htm
Medical marijuana 'edibles' mostly mislabeled: Many too weak, some surprisingly strong
June 23, 2015
Science Daily/Johns Hopkins Medicine
The vast majority of edible cannabis products sold in a small sample of medical marijuana dispensaries carried labels that overstated or understated the amount of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a proof-of-concept study shows. Though the scope of the study was small, the researchers say, the results of the study suggest some medical cannabis patients could be unintentionally overdosing or are being cheated by mislabeled products.
In a proof-of-concept study, a team led by a Johns Hopkins researcher reports that the vast majority of edible cannabis products sold in a small sample of medical marijuana dispensaries carried labels that overstated or understated the amount of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Though the scope of the study was small, the researchers say, the results of the study suggest some medical cannabis patients could be unintentionally overdosing or are being cheated by mislabeled products.
"If this study is representative of the medical cannabis market, we may have hundreds of thousands of patients buying cannabis products that are mislabeled," says experimental psychologist Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and lead author of a report on the study published June 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Calling for better regulation and oversight of marijuana edibles, Vandrey and his team say patients who consume underlabeled products -- meaning more THC is in the product than is stated on the label -- could suffer from overdosing side effects, including extreme anxiety and psychotic reactions. Patients purchasing products that are overlabeled are not getting what they paid for, he adds.
"Caveat emptor," or "let the buyer beware," is "just not right" for the sale of medical marijuana, he says.
For the study, Vandrey teamed with an independent laboratory and collected 75 different edible cannabis products -- baked goods, beverages and candy/chocolates -- representing 47 different brands. The products were legally purchased from a sample of three medical dispensaries in each of three cities: Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. "Those cities were chosen based on the location of the labs" in California and Washington, says Vandrey, "because you can't transport these products across state lines legally."
Comparing the THC content listed on product labels with the laboratory measures revealed only 13 products (17 percent) that were accurately labeled. When lab results differed from the product label by more than 10 percent, the team categorized those products as either under- or overlabeled. Some 17 products (23 percent) had more THC than advertised, which could lead to overdosing. The majority of products -- 45 products (60 percent) -- were overlabeled, meaning patients purchasing those products for their THC content are not getting the dose of medicine they believed they purchased.
"We didn't have a guess as to how many products would have inaccurate labels," says Vandrey, "but I was surprised it was so many."
The team also tested the products for cannabidiol, or CBD, another of the active ingredients in cannabis believed to have medical benefit, which may also help reduce the side effects of THC.
Laboratory testing showed 44 products (59 percent) had detectible levels of CBD, but the average ratio of THC to CBD was 36-to-1. Only one product had a 1-to-1 ratio, which some research suggests is associated with fewer side effects and improved clinical benefit compared with higher ratios of THC to CBD.
"A lot of dispensary owners and medical cannabis proponents make a big case about how therapeutically beneficial CBD is," says Vandrey, "but our testing indicates that a lot of what's available in the edible cannabis market may have very little CBD."
Currently, marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I substance under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, meaning it is considered to have a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical value and lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Yet 23 states and the District of Columbia permit the sale and/or use of medical marijuana, and four states and D.C. permit its sale and use for recreational purposes.
In the absence of federal regulation, says Vandrey, "the states that have medical marijuana laws need to account for the quality and testing of medical marijuana products sold to their residents."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150623113156.htm