Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Rhonda Washburn said it creeped her out.
A brand new medical marijuana dispensary next to her favorite store, Craft-Mania.
"Whoever heard of such a thing?" said the Auburn woman.
Brett Larlee, however, called it a great idea.
His father, suffering from Stage 4 cancer, is in the process of getting a doctor's note for marijuana to help with the pain and discomfort of chemotherapy.
Think pharmacy, not drug dealer, said Larlee, of Auburn.
Many noontime shoppers coming in and out of Craft-Mania and Big Lots! on Friday, a day after Remedy Compassion Center announced plans to move into the Auburn Plaza, were surprised by the news but largely unfazed.
Police said they hadn't heard any reaction and don't plan a stepped-up presence when it opens Dec. 13. Owners Timothy and Jennifer Smale had looked around Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties before deciding to site their new dispensary in the former Northern Mattress & Furniture.
"We have a totally different idea about such things," said Johannes Methorst, who moved from the Netherlands to Litchfield two years ago. "If it is really under control and really helping people, it's OK."
It wouldn't stop him from shopping there.
"I just think it's a little strange to have in a mall," said Darcey Bubier of Auburn. "It wouldn't keep me away. I'd wonder what my kids were thinking."
For that reason, signage on the building will be important. Right now, on the tail end of the plaza, there's nothing above the roof line and just a few old stickers left on the door from Gobiel's Furniture's short-lived discount store last winter.
"If it's going to help people who are in pain, I don't mind it," said Crystal Coady of Lewiston.
Linda Parker, whose bell-ringing station for the Salvation Army is in front of Craft-Mania, said she doesn't like drugs but that the new dispensary wouldn't keep her away this season or next.
"I'd feel a lot more comfortable shopping next to a dispensary than shopping next to a methadone clinic," Timothy Martin of Rumford said.
Denise Larlee, Brett's wife, said she thought Remedy Compassion Center could cut down on outside drug-dealing: "A lot of people who sell marijuana sell other things, too."
"As long as there is security and the door has a card ( system )," she said, it wouldn't bother her.
Management at Craft-Mania and Big Lots!, the future dispensary's closest neighbors, declined to comment.
Auburn Deputy Chief Jason Moen said police had reviewed the Smales' security plans for the site. Once it opens, they'll "treat it like any other business, nothing out of the ordinary for extra enforcement because of the nature of their business."
Moen said nothing required the Smales to tell other stores in the plaza that they were moving in.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Lewiston Sun Journal (ME)
Copyright: 2010 Lewiston Sun Journal
Contact: letters@sunjournal.com
Website: The Sun Journal - News from Central and Western Maine
Details: MapInc
Author: Kathryn Skelton
A brand new medical marijuana dispensary next to her favorite store, Craft-Mania.
"Whoever heard of such a thing?" said the Auburn woman.
Brett Larlee, however, called it a great idea.
His father, suffering from Stage 4 cancer, is in the process of getting a doctor's note for marijuana to help with the pain and discomfort of chemotherapy.
Think pharmacy, not drug dealer, said Larlee, of Auburn.
Many noontime shoppers coming in and out of Craft-Mania and Big Lots! on Friday, a day after Remedy Compassion Center announced plans to move into the Auburn Plaza, were surprised by the news but largely unfazed.
Police said they hadn't heard any reaction and don't plan a stepped-up presence when it opens Dec. 13. Owners Timothy and Jennifer Smale had looked around Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties before deciding to site their new dispensary in the former Northern Mattress & Furniture.
"We have a totally different idea about such things," said Johannes Methorst, who moved from the Netherlands to Litchfield two years ago. "If it is really under control and really helping people, it's OK."
It wouldn't stop him from shopping there.
"I just think it's a little strange to have in a mall," said Darcey Bubier of Auburn. "It wouldn't keep me away. I'd wonder what my kids were thinking."
For that reason, signage on the building will be important. Right now, on the tail end of the plaza, there's nothing above the roof line and just a few old stickers left on the door from Gobiel's Furniture's short-lived discount store last winter.
"If it's going to help people who are in pain, I don't mind it," said Crystal Coady of Lewiston.
Linda Parker, whose bell-ringing station for the Salvation Army is in front of Craft-Mania, said she doesn't like drugs but that the new dispensary wouldn't keep her away this season or next.
"I'd feel a lot more comfortable shopping next to a dispensary than shopping next to a methadone clinic," Timothy Martin of Rumford said.
Denise Larlee, Brett's wife, said she thought Remedy Compassion Center could cut down on outside drug-dealing: "A lot of people who sell marijuana sell other things, too."
"As long as there is security and the door has a card ( system )," she said, it wouldn't bother her.
Management at Craft-Mania and Big Lots!, the future dispensary's closest neighbors, declined to comment.
Auburn Deputy Chief Jason Moen said police had reviewed the Smales' security plans for the site. Once it opens, they'll "treat it like any other business, nothing out of the ordinary for extra enforcement because of the nature of their business."
Moen said nothing required the Smales to tell other stores in the plaza that they were moving in.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Lewiston Sun Journal (ME)
Copyright: 2010 Lewiston Sun Journal
Contact: letters@sunjournal.com
Website: The Sun Journal - News from Central and Western Maine
Details: MapInc
Author: Kathryn Skelton
