Anyone have a list of which dispensaries got the letters?

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal DEA!

Fuckin' Obama!! Seriously tho, can we get an Attorney General who will reign in these renegade US attorneys and DEA agents?!?!

Wondering on the timing, but this is a measured response. They are growing like kudzu and at least this gets the "What about the kids?!?" troop happier.

Makes me wonder if this is a 502 message, or the beginning of us sliding towards a cali situation...

Getting mad at the feds misses the point. I am as big a pot smoker as the next fruit but the 1000 foot rule is completely legitimate. Dispensaries that flaunt the rules are making it worse for everybody.

@3, Really? What did you expect?
I bet you didn't know that in most of this country there's all sorts of laws that tell you where and when you can run what kind of business. It's why we don't have 20 story tall pig farms/slaughterhouses downtown and why you don't see too many strip clubs next door to schools.
Asking politely (as opposed to a SWAT style raid) that a quasi legal pot dealer not set up next to a school is actually a big step forward.

There is a tiny remote fishing village in Alaska, the origin of the village lies in the cannery. The cannery was built and the town grew around it. Before there was a school there were three liquor licenses established in the town. Now that the school exists the entire town is within the "no alcohol sales" zone. The three existing licenses were grand fathered in. All three establishments are super careful not to get their license revoked, because if they do there is no re-establishing them.

How dumb do people think kids are? They are buying the drugs IN school from their mates. 1000ft feel good jerk off.

It's ok to sell beer, caffine and cigarettes right across from a school. I502 will make it even more difficult for mmj access. It stipulates 1000ft from schools, daycars, transit center, community building and Public Parks.

Legalization brings some responsibility along with the freedoms. That's just the way it is and the way it should be.

@9 I-502's regulations do not apply to medical access points, collective gardens etc. The regulations apply only to the retail stores I-502 sets up which sell to people over 21 regardless of medical status.

kids aren't getting weed from a pot dispensary

ZOMG!!!!!1

EVIL POT DRUGGIES NEXT TO THE SCHOOL MY PRECIOUS SNOWFLAKE ATTENDS!!!!

WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE, OH PLEASE, THINK OF THE GODDAMNED MOTHERFUCKING CHILDREN?!?!?!?!

@12: thanks for providing a reality check to @9's ignorance. Not that it will do much as far as I can tell. The almost willful, intentional misinformation of the the no on 502 medical folks would be comical if it wasn't so potentially damaging.

It seems reasonable until you look at a map and realize there isn't a single place in the city that isn't 1000 feet from a school, playground, daycare, or anywhere else kids congregate. I'd bet cash money that every single pot dispensary in existence got one of these letters telling them to get out of a school zone. 1000 feet is pretty far, it's not like these dispensaries are opening up across the street from schools.

@16 is that true? What do the maps look like?

I don't know, pot dispensary owners seem to love drunk driving. It's probably best they stay in industrial areas.

When I lived in Paris back before half of you were born, there was a street in my neighborhood that was chicks-with-dicks hooker central. Every weekday at, I forget, five PM or something -- just before the elementary school on that street* let out -- a couple of female cops would herd all of the hookers into a café 100 feet higher up the street** for a coffee and cigarette break while the youngsters made their way home. Fifteen minutes later, it was back to business as usual. Given that "passive" hooking was technically legal (and tolerated in practice) at the time, it seemed like a pretty reasonable solution.

Anyway, I thought it might be possible to just order dispensaries in "school zones" to be closed, or be by appointment only, when schoolkids are likely to be walking past, but maybe our school schedules aren't regimented, uniform, and predictable enough for that to be practical. (Are there still after-school activities in Seattle public schools, or have they been Eymanned out?) Still, it might be worth looking into.

*Here's the school: http://goo.gl/maps/dluNH

**Here's what I think used to be the café: http://goo.gl/maps/OgUEz (It's a home decor store now.) You can see the school just down the street, with the French flag in front.

Good, shut them all down. Karma and so on.