ST. LOUIS — Students at a South City are protesting a proposed marijuana dispensary directly across the street.
It was just a week ago that the ownership group of the proposed Kind Goods Recreational Dispensary pulled their plans for a drive-through window as a show of good faith to the school.
However, multiple students told 5 On Your Side they want the projects stopped altogether.
Every day, Paige Fowler commutes 20 minutes from her north St. Louis County home to Lift for Life Academy for one reason.
“I felt like it had a family vibe,” Paige Fowler, a senior studying at Lift for Life Academy, said. “When I first came down to visit every single one of the staff members just welcomed me and it was a warm feeling.”
However, Fowler said she is concerned that could soon change if a dispensary is allowed to open across the street.
“Just imagine when the elementary kids are going across the street to the Soulard Market Park — what they might be walking past every day,” Fowler said.
That’s why Lift for Life students are mobilizing to ensure their voices are heard.
“Weed is not a need,” Noah Ridgel said. “It’s never going to be a need. Weed will slow your brain down and it kills your brain cells. Don’t do it!”
“What are we teaching our kids,” Fowler asked. “What are we showing the kids? Marijuana is normal. I get that. It’s legal, but kids shouldn’t be seeing that every day when they come to school.”
Missouri law requires at least 1,000 feet between dispensaries and schools, daycares and churches.
The City of St. Louis opted out of that law in 2020 due to concerns those requirements would only allow dispensaries to open in certain areas of the city.
St. Louis Board Alderwoman Cara Spencer recently told school leaders she would look into other Missouri cities that have handled distance requirements for dispensaries and liquor stores near schools.
Globe Drugs, a variety store that sits across the street from Lift for Life Academy, is owned by a relative of the school's executive director.
“There’s primarily no difference,” Ridgel said. “Drugs are drugs either way it goes. We really don’t want nothing close to here, but we’ll try to make the stance here, and then we’ll build on later.”
5 on Your Side has sent multiple requests for comment to the Kind Goods ownership group, and Lift for Life students recently sent them a letter, but they have not responded.
“At this point, they can’t ignore us,” Fowler said.
“We really just don’t want it close to the school,” Ridgel said. “As long as you can make it farther away we don’t have an issue.”
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen recently allocated $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to look into zoning issues around the city.