At the Academy for Positive Learning in Lake Worth, students and teachers made an effort to focus on what was going on inside the classroom, and not the ongoing debate happening outside of it.
The Curaleaf dispensary officially opened up its doors Monday - much to the anger of principal Renatta Espinoza and her staff.
“I am going to fight this - I’m going to fight this, and they need to be moved!” Espinoza says.
She says she’s been sounding the alarm since last summer.
Among her concerns - the traffic the dispensary could bring, the crowd she says it could attract, and the fact that it’s cash only.
“It’s bringing a bad message to the city, and it’s bringing a bad message to the students,” she says.
Lake Worth City manager Michael Bornstein pushed back against the concerns.
“The fears may be kind of blown out of proportion,” he says. “This is an about recreational drugs, this isn’t anything dealing with anything illegal. This is all the result of a ballot issue that over 70% of the people voted for.”
He says the law sees the dispensaries as no different from a Walgreens or a CVS.
“They followed the law, and the law was very clear that it’s treated as a pharmacy. I think over time that this issue will be less of a concern as people see how they operate.
Espinoza says she doesn’t see it that way.
“Marijuana is still illegal in the federal government and what happens is that it’s a totally different type of pharmacy. The political people are not thinking about the safety of our children!”
The city does say it has a moratorium in place on new dispensaries until it gets more guidance on how to open and operate them.
The school meanwhile says it’s already reached out to the Justice Department, and says it will not stop until the dispensary is moved.
EARLIER STORY
Lake Worth's second medical marijuana dispensary opened Monday.
Curaleaf is located at 1125 North Dixie Hwy., just north of 10th Avenue North.
RELATED: More medical marijuana coverage | Groundbreaking case allows girl to return to school
It is right across the street from the Academy for Positive Learning school.
Some parents and school leaders are worried about crime and safety with the dispensary being so close to students.
The dispensary opened at 10 a.m.
You must be referred by a doctor who is in the state's registry of qualified physicians' for medical marijuana.
The first medical marijuana dispensary, Knox Medical, opened in Lake Worth in November. Curaleaf and Knox Medical are only about a mile apart.
