Local Cannabis Dispensary Will Not Make Its Wares Available to Minors

• Controvery about High School Sports Calendar Is Aired

BY BILL KOENEKER

The operators of PCH Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary, recently announced a policy of not selling to anyone under 21 years of age. The state law that was brought about by a state proposition approved by the voters allows the collectives to sell to anyone over 18.
“The policy is no sale to anyone under 21,” said PCH Collective spokesperson Dustin Zahn who said the policy has been in effect for three months.
The blanket policy, according to Zahn, is to work with the community in ensuring that no high school students or young people can obtain marijuana at the collective.
“We were asked in August by the Chabad about an approach that [medical marijuana] would not get in the hands of minors. They thought it was the most effective way to cut it off at the user level,” Zahn added. “In an attempt to support that effort we raised the age limit.”
Zahn said an 18-year-old can get a recommendation from a physician. The medical marijuana is dispensed via a physician recommendation rather than an actual prescription.
Sometimes even younger individuals may obtain a recommendation, depending upon the physician, according to Zahn. “It is based on the physician’s recommendation,” he added.
Zahn also talked about an incident he called “unfortunate” when the name of PCH Collective was added to the high school football calendar.
“We were not trying to target high schoolers. We did not include a phone number or address. We were told it was a way to support the football team which we wanted to do,” he said.
The spokesperson said they had been reassured by Media All Stars, the company that sold the ads and put the calendar together that they had cleared the inclusion of PCH Collective’s logo in the calendar with the faculty advisor.
“We were told the money went for uniforms. That was the reason for our support. We were told from the beginning it was OK by the high school. We were not targeting the high school or an age group. We thought we were giving to a good cause. We want to support the community,” said Zahn, who added they considered the request no more differently than if any other community group had approached them for a donation.