A Newport Beach couple have opened what they describe as a marijuana school, and city officials say it’s legal as long as they don’t distribute pot there.<\/p>\n
Chadd and Alysha McKeen don\u2019t care that passersby can see the six
\n3-foot-tall marijuana plants growing inside their new storefront.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to tell people to stop being afraid of it,\u201d Chadd McKeen, co-founder of Otherside Farms, told the Daily Pilot. \u201cWe want to bring it
\nout into the open.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br><\/p>\n
The McKeens also put in new tile and ripped
\nthe bars off the windows at the center, which sits between a
\ndog-grooming business and a therapeutic spa. It\u2019s all part of an effort
\nto make the place appear open and inviting.<\/p>\n
The shop at 2424
\nNewport Blvd. in Costa Mesa bills itself as a \u201cmedical marijuana information center.\u201d
\nIt offers classes on everything from how to grow marijuana for
\nmedicinal purposes to how to make pot brownies. The six plants growing
\nunderneath special lights in one foil-padded room of the shop are
\nstrictly for teaching purposes, the couple said.<\/p>\n