Medical-marijuana center gets mixed reactions
Brooklyn’s fi rst medical-marijuana
dispensary recently opened
across the street from the Barclays
Center, offi cially starting
the sales of legal, weed-based remedies
in the borough, according
to a spokeswoman for the facility
(“Pot luck! Boro’s fi rst medicalmarijuana
dispensary opens for
eligible patients” by Colin Mixson,
online Jan. 4).
Qualifying patients registered
with the state’s Department
of Health will fi nd 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 medicalmarijuana
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 refl ect 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
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treatment and I immediately started
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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 fi refi
ghter, 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
fi tting honor for this fi refi ghter and
his fi refi ghter family.
Seeing that many bridges and
roadways are named after self-centered
politicians, I believe this is befi
tting a true hero! A permanent and
fi tting 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
COURIER L 38 IFE, JAN. 11–17, 2019 M B G
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 infl uence in many neighborhoods.
How is a student supposed
to do his homework if there are
bullets fl ying 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.
Specifi cally, 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 fi scal 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 suffi cient 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
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