Girl Scout cookies are a great way to satiate the munchies, or so implies the name of the popular Girl Scout Cookie strain of medical marijuana. But there is no official connection between the Girl Scouts of America and the pot trade, and thanks to a new policy by the youth group disallowing sales outside of pot dispensaries in the state, marijuana customers hungry for Girl Scout cookies in Colorado will have to walk a little out of their way to get their Thin Mints and Samoas.
"Girl Scouts of Colorado doesn’t allow girls to sell cookies outside of any adult-oriented business, whether that is a bar, strip club, casino, liquor store or marijuana dispensary," the organization wrote on its Facebook page, according to several news sources including theUK Daily Mail(the post has since been taken down). "We recognize these are legitimate businesses, but we don’t feel they are an appropriate place for girls to be selling cookies in Colorado."
The issue came into the public eye after Mashable reported that 13-year-old Danielle Lei had a lucrative day outside a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco, selling 117 boxes of cookies.
"It's no secret that cannabis is a powerful appetite stimulant, so we knew this would be a very beneficial endeavor for the girls," a member of the clinic staff told Mashable. "It's all about location, and what better place to sell Girl Scout cookies than outside a medical cannabis collective?"
Lei's mother and the Girl Scouts of Northern California were both onboard with her clever choice of location. However, the Colorado branch decided not to follow suit, even though pot is legal for recreational purposes in the state.
"There's a place for everything, and just like a liquor store or a gun show, a marijuana dispensary isn't a place for young girls to be selling cookies," a Girl Scouts Colorado executive told the Huffington Post. "There are plenty of other options for customers of adult businesses to purchase cookies at other locations."
Earlier in the month, someone tweeted an apparently doctored photo of girls selling the popular snacks outside a dispensary in Colorado, according to Mashable. The organization replied, "If you're wondering, we don't allow our Girl Scouts to sell cookies in front of marijuana shops or liquor stores/bars." Both tweets appear to have been deleted.
Commentators weighed in for and against the policy, with some noting that grocery stores sell beer and cigarettes as it is in Colorado, and that girls banned from dispensaries would be missing out on valuable opportunities for revenue.
According to Fox News, an eight-year-old girl in Phoenix has been selling cookies outside a dispensary for the past two years. The local Girl Scout Council said the decision where to sell is left up to the parents.
The Colorado organization updated its Facebook page on Tuesday and suggested that while they're standing by their stance for now, they could change their policy in the future.
"Girl Scouts of Colorado has heard the opinions from the external advocates for marijuana, and we’ve also heard from our members who are largely behind our policy on cookie sales," the post read. "It’s time to end this conversation, as it’s gotten political and strayed from the purpose of this site—to discuss Girl Scouting and building the leaders of tomorrow. GSCO is sticking with the policy we have had for many years through the end of our cookie sale on Sunday. Every year, we revisit our policies with feedback from our members/families."