New Cannabis Dispensary’s Location in Centralia Raising Concerns From Drug Rehabilitation Center

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Centralia was set to see its second marijuana dispensary open, but the location at 1039 S. Gold St. might be in jeopardy due to a nearby mental health and drug rehabilitation center, CORE Health, which is located at 1126 S. Gold St.

The Chronicle met with CORE Health CEO Frank Morrison last week. He said the center is trying to help people who may struggle with addiction. He expressed concern that patients will now have easy access to legal cannabis just down the street from where they receive treatment.

“There’s a verse in the Bible that says, ‘Can a man put fire to his chest and not be burned?’” Morrison said.

That isn’t his only concern, though, as CORE Health also provides child care services.

According to state law regarding the location of marijuana businesses, “the board may not issue a license for any premises within 1,000 feet of the perimeter of the grounds of any elementary or secondary school, playground, recreation center or facility, child care center, public park, public transit center or library.”

Morrison has reached out to multiple government agencies to voice his concerns, including the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB), the Board of Lewis County Commissioners and the Centralia City Council.

The cannabis dispensary in question, Greens On Gold, was originally granted a license to sell cannabis by the state in 2015. Since then, Greens On Gold has struggled to find a location to open due to zoning requirements and have explored multiple possible locations.

As per its business license granted on June 17, 2022, CORE Health is qualified as a child care center, and Morrison explained that CORE had just moved to the location on the 1100 block of South Gold Street in June so it could expand services and properly provide them to those who need it in the area.

The main services offered by CORE are mental health resources and substance abuse treatment for the homeless and low-income families, and aside from child care services, it also offers short-term housing and helps patients find long-term housing and jobs.

CORE opened in Centralia in 2017. It has been operating in Longview since 2015. Morrison himself has been involved with community outreach programs in the area for years before that, he said. They completed their purchase of the property at 1126 S. Gold St. in December 2020.

“Child care is an important part of what we do as well. We don’t want our patients worrying about where their kids are while they’re receiving treatment,” Morrison said.

Morrison is currently challenging Greens on Gold’s city business license application revolving around a recent rezoning ordinance passed by the city council on July 26.

“My understanding is that it was passed on July 26, 2022, but that the ordinance doesn’t take effect until five days after being publicly posted. Since it was posted in the July 28, 2022 edition of the Daily Chronicle, the effective date of the rezone should have been Aug. 2, 2022. We learned the pot shop applied for its business license with the city on July 31, 2022, before the actual date their address was legally rezoned,” Morrison stated in an Aug. 8 email to the city council.



According to Centralia City Attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson, Morrison might actually have a case as the ordinance did not have any emergency connotations on it, which would have exempted it from the five-day rule.

In a phone interview with Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston, she explained that she and the rest of  the council are looking into the matter and were in contact with the office of the city manager to investigate the issue.

Concerning the rezoning ordinance that was passed on July 26, Smith Johnston said while some public concerns were raised about the Greens on Gold location, CORE Health was not among them at either the first or second reading of the ordinance during the city’s public council meetings to object.

Despite that, Smith Johnston stated Greens on Gold’s business license application might be in jeopardy for other reasons.

“It wouldn’t matter that they (CORE Health) aren’t officially a child care center, because they still provide rehab and we require a buffer zone for that too,” Smith Johnston said.

She added that it was the owner’s responsibility to complete their due diligence and ensure the dispensary’s location had adequate buffer zones to distance itself from businesses they are not allowed to operate around.

“In the end we will make the decision that’s best for the city,” Smith Johnston said.

Greens on Gold owner Dick Watkins said he was previously unaware of any concerns being raised by CORE Health and he thought the due diligence process had been completed, which is why he went ahead and applied for his city business license and had begun renovations to the building he hopes to open Greens on Gold in.

“I went through the LCB and they did the search for areas where I could operate and they OK’d this location,” Watkins said in a phone interview.