Marijuana and the Girl Scouts? Not words you’d normally put together, but lately the news is full of stories about Girl Scouts and pot.
The buzz comes from San Francisco, where an enterprising Girl Scout set up a cookie both outside a medical marijuana dispensary and did a booming business. With states increasingly decriminalizing marijuana, the stage seemed set for an army of girls in green helping legal users satisfy their munchies.
But not so fast. You can’t just go out and deal cookies on any street corner. There are rules. Most councils have a centralized booth assignment system, which secures and distributes booth locations up to two months in advance. The San Francisco Girl Scout’s booth was not approved by the Northern California Council; instead, it was her mother’s idea. It was a rogue booth.
The Girl Scout Council of Colorado, a state that recently allowed sales of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, quashed the hopes of many potential Thin Mint dealers. The Council clarified that its policy of not allowing sales outside adult-oriented business (such as liquor stores and gun shops) applies to pot shops, too.
Here in Washington, DC, there also is a movement to decriminalize marijuana, but that is old news for the Girl Scouts.
Teen Girl Scouts already weighed in on the marijuana issue, took their views to a Republican White House, and got an endorsement from the First Family.
In 1972 the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital sponsored “Petticoats, Pot, and Politics,” a Wider Opportunity (Destination) for Senior Girl Scouts. One hundred girls aged 14-17 from across the country joined 25 girls from GSCNC for two weeks of political debate at Trinity College in Washington, DC.
The Nation’s Capital girls helped design the program, selecting current issues with particular relevance for teens. They passed several bills, including one requiring sex education to be taught in school, but defeated a proposal to decriminalize marijuana, instead calling for possession to be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
The experience ended with a reception at the White House attended by First Daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower, who declared that she agreed with the girls’ position on marijuana.
So, Girl Scouts on pot. Been there, done that, didn’t inhale.
(C) 2014 Ann Robertson
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