Sean C. Morgan
Going Green, a medical marijuana dispensary, opened Aug. 30.
That was later than Manager C.J. Stephenson had hoped, but he was happy to be open for business at 925 Main St.
“We were just waiting for the license, just waiting for everything to go through,” Stephenson said. The state inspection program, run by the Oregon Health Authority, has a long backlog.
As of last Thursday, the dispensary had 185 members, Stephenson said. “It’s gone pretty good. Everybody’s responding pretty well. The patrons say this is long overdue in Sweet Home.”
Many of them are telling Stephenson it’s already dented the black market for marijuana in Sweet Home, theoretically because medical marijuana card holders can buy legal marijuana now.
The dispensary helps a handful of people who do not have a good way to leave Sweet Home, he said. “There’s a lot of new patients I’ve never seen.”
Those patients were never members when Going Green was a club in Lebanon, and they haven’t been members in Albany.
The club closed following Linn County’s one-year moratorium on opening medical marijuana dispensaries. Sean Aman and Sarah Whitely have since opened an outlet in Albany and the one here in Sweet Home.
Response has been positive, Stephenson said. One man, who was simply against the concept of the store, complained; but business owners around the new store have dropped by to say hello.
Police Chief Jeff Lynn said the Police Department has received just one complaint and has encountered no problems with Going Green. The complaint was about a mannequin, holding a sign, which leans against a power pole along Main Street. Its arms move as the sign points toward Going Green.
The only good way the department would have to deal with it is to treat it as a distraction, Lynn said, but Main Street has other situations that could qualify as “distractions” if the department pursued that as a remedy.
Stephenson said it has done its job and drawn attention to Going Green.
Going Green will host a grand opening Saturday, Sept. 20, with an open house (although the “medical room,” where marijuana is sold is not open to the public). Staff will grill and hold a ribs cookoff among them.
For more information about Going Green or medical marijuana, call (541) 405-8071 or (541) 405-8856.