Oregon Early Learning Council: Medical Marijuana Worse Than Booze, Pills and Guns

Oh Oregon, what are we going to do with you? For a state sandwiched between the legal pot haven of Washington and the heavily-medical marijuana saturation in California, Oregon sure exhibits some backwater ways of thinking. Oregon has been more or less a stick in the mud, refusing to allow the flood of popular marijuana use budge them from the last century.

So, it should surprise no one that the Early Learning Council for Oregon unanimously passed a rule (temporary rule, at this point) that strictly prohibits medical marijuana patients from owning or operating day care facilities. In fact, this is now something they have to declare when applying for licenses to open a day care. I can’t think of another medical issue you would have to declare when applying for licensure and I don’t like the stank of Big Brother that this carries one bit.

” The move comes after a request from Gov. John Kitzhaber following a July report in The Oregonian about Alphabet Learning Academy in Salem. A cable TV installer detected marijuana smoke in an office separate from the home where the day care is operated and reported it to authorities. The home owner, Charity Araujo, operated the day care there until voluntarily surrendering her license and turning over operation of the day care to her daughter, Moriah Jaeger, earlier this year. Four of the five employees who live and work at the home are medical marijuana cardholders.

Araujo had disclosed her status as a medical marijuana patient to the Early Learning Council. In a letter dated May 15 and signed by state compliance specialist Kristy Mitchell, the council accepted the use of medical marijuana by day care employees, provided it was not used around the children, that no kids would be exposed to second-hand smoke, that marijuana and paraphernalia were kept locked up, and a second non-medicated adult is present to supervise children. The agreement also specified that the status of the day care licensee as a medical marijuana patient and the agreement itself would be kept private unless otherwise directed by the Oregon Attorney General.

Araujo explained that she and the other employees never used marijuana while on shift, and when she uses marijuana, it is in an enclosed tent in the yard when the children aren’t present. “We don’t have anyone medicated (who) is responsible for the children.”

That just eats some major ass. This woman followed all the rules and was even legally cleared to keep her day care until some jag smelled something from a different building and felt the need to be a “good citizen.” I had something similar happen to me. Prior to Washington legalizing weed, I was in my bathroom having a toke and, apparently, there was a roof cleaner atop the building near the exhaust of the bathroom fan. He then goes on a reporting spree to the landlord and they stage a big sweep of the building to see what’s what. Now, I know it’s not exactly the same and weed was still illegal, but still. People need to loosen their underwear and just chill out. Oh my god! You smelled some weed! Call Congress!

These new rules prohibit any cannabis on the premises. That means that medical marijuana patients who ran day cares from their homes cannot even use marijuana in their own homes after hours, when no children are present.

As troubling as this is, what drags it from the realm of petty bullshit into abject rage is that no such laws exist prohibiting alcohol, pharmaceuticals, or even firearms from being on the premises or in the possession of day care professionals. The regulations on child care in Oregon state that, “firearms must be stored separately from ammunition, unloaded, and in a locked cabinet in an area inaccessible to children.”

I can’t make this up people. In the crazy world of Oregon daycare policy, a friggin’ gun is less harmful to your child than a baggie of weed. A gun!

C’mon Oregon! You are generally a nice place, my father even lives there. But you’re making it really hard for me not to talk shit about you.