Brooklyn’s first medical-marijuana dispensary recently opened across the street from the Barclays Center, officially starting the sales of legal, weed-based remedies in the borough, according to a spokeswoman for the facility (“Pot luck! Boro’s first medical-marijuana dispensary opens for eligible patients” by Colin Mixson, online Jan. 4).
Qualifying patients registered with the state’s Department of Health will find the shelves at Citiva stocked with reefer-derived oils, vape pens, pills, and even topical salves designed to instantly soothe sore muscles, according to the company’s president Michael Quattrone.
But customers who visit the store at 202 Flatbush Ave. between Dean and Bergen streets cannot purchase their Mary Jane as a plant or any wacky tobacky–infused edibles at the pot pharmacy, which is prohibited from hawking anything someone can light up and smoke under the medical-marijuana program state legislators enacted in 2014.
Customers must present their state-issued medical-marijuana cards to employees before entering the dispensary on the Park Slope–Prospect Heights border, which Quattrone described as more day spa than a smoke shop.
Readers weighed in on these high times:
It is high time that the federal law keeping cannabis illegal is changed to reflect the will of the people. A majority of this country feels it should be legal. And insurance companies should also pay for medical marijuana!Mike L from Kensington
When are we going to see some intelligently written articles on the subject of cannabis? You can have a sense of humor on the topic, but let’s elevate the conversation.Sara from Prospect Park
Legalize it, tax it, and fund public schools and infrastructure. I hear the MTA could use some funding. Just a rumor.concerned from Brooklyn
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago at the age of 69. For several months, I had noticed tremors in my right hand and the shaking of my right foot when sitting, and as the disease progressed I totally lost balance. Neurologists had me walk down the hall and said I didn’t swing my right arm. I had never noticed! I was in denial for a while, as there is no history in my family. I used amantadine, Carbidopa-levodopa, and physical therapy to strengthen muscles, and it all failed.
In 2016, a friend suggested Natural Herbal Gardens, which has successful herbal treatment for Parkinson’s disease. I read a lot of positive reviews from patients who used the treatment and I immediately started on it. I had great relief with this herbal treatment. I walk much better now, with tremors or anxiety since treatment. This Parkinson’s treatment is a miracle!Kimberly from USA
Never forget him
To the Editor,
It was sad to hear that a brave firefighter, Stephen Pollard, was killed in the line of duty on the Belt Parkway. The “Belt” has been known as a dangerous thoroughfare for years, and stickers proclaiming “Pray for me – I drive the Belt Parkway” have been seen on many a bumper.
The new Mill Basin Bridge, where he fell to his death, is a span currently under construction, replacing the old and unreliable drawbridge.
It’s a beautiful road, although, since drivers speed through the 40-miles-per-hour construction zone too fast, all too many accidents occur.
I suggest that a renaming of this bridge is in order. The Stephen Pollard–Mill Basin Bridge would be a fitting honor for this firefighter and his firefighter family.
Seeing that many bridges and roadways are named after self-centered politicians, I believe this is befitting a true hero! A permanent and fitting memorial.Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Look out for all kids
To the Editor,
In response to your letter, “The Beat Goes On,” (by Ed Greenspan, Sound Off to the Editor, Bay News, Dec. 28, 2018–Jan. 3, 2019), I strongly agree that something needs to be done about students who harass others on school buses or in classrooms, but I disagree with you about having 600 schools or any other separate schools for problem children. By the time a student becomes that big a problem, it is much too late to start addressing it. Wouldn’t early detection and prevention of problems before a student becomes disruptive be a much better solution?
I believe we need to start addressing potential problems the minute a 4- or 5-year-old starts school, or maybe even before that.
I am sickened by the news stories of children who are beaten to death in their own homes before they are even old enough to start school. We need a strong, caring social services system with case workers who are unafraid to remove abused children from their homes so that these children can live to go to school. We also need a strong social services team at every school trained to detect any problems a student may be having at home and do whatever is necessary to help the student and his parents, including removing the child from his home when necessary.
Every school bus carrying children to or from school should have a matron or a monitor trained to deal with children who cause problems. Also, every bus driver, matron, or monitor should be taught to count each and every child on the bus and make sure nobody is left behind. Being left alone and forgotten on a school bus,sometimes for hours, has been traumatic and dangerous for many children.
Ideally, teachers and other school personnel should get to know every parent as well as every child, and should provide social and psychiatric services to whoever needs them.
I believe that if Adam Lanza had been removed from the home he shared with his disturbed mother when he was a small child, those teachers and children he shot in Sandy Hook would still be alive.
I also believe our police force and our government need to do much more than they are currently doing to curb violence and gang influence in many neighborhoods. How is a student supposed to do his homework if there are bullets flying around in the street and maybe landing in his apartment, and maybe even in his chest, and gang members are waiting outside his window to recruit him as
soon as he is old enough?
What we really need to do, Mr. Greenspan, is not to build 600 schools, but to use the money they would cost to improve our current schools and to provide the help each individual student needs to overcome his or her problems and be able to concentrate on learning and on planning a healthy future and, hopefully, on helping others. I believe that no student need be a problem if his or her needs are met, and his or her problems at home, in his or her neighborhood, and in school are solved, or at least alleviated. Elaine Kirsch
Gravesend
Stuck in the middle
To the Editor,
The ongoing federal government shut down reminds me of “Stuck In The Middle With You” by the band Stealers Wheel.
Specifically, the words “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you” from the song. It perfectly sums up the chaos and gridlock in Washington.
Both the President and Congress need to work together, if we are ever going to put our fiscal house in order and end future threats of furloughs. We need to return to the time when Congress held budget hearings for each department during the summer.
A real balanced budget agency by agency was adopted during an open process. Members of Congress, federal employees, public, watchdog groups, and media were afforded sufficient time to understand the contents prior to adoption. Full federal budgets were adopted on time prior to the start of any new Federal Fiscal year on Oct. 1. This was a time when there were no furloughs.
Let’s make a deal. Democrats should give Trump $5 billion for the wall. Republicans should give Schumer and Democrats $5 billion toward the $29 billion Gateway Tunnel. Both sides will come away happy.
Why not end bipartisan gridlock? Instead of another in a series of stop gap continuing resolutions to keep the government open, pass a clean spending bill with no attached amendments for the balance of Fiscal Year 2019 ending on Sept. 30 using Fiscal Year 2018 numbers.Larry Penner
Great Neck
