Cd'A relaxes child care code

COEUR d'ALENE — The rules for getting a child care business license in Coeur d’Alene just became more relaxed for some people with a history of smoking marijuana.

The city council voted Tuesday to change city code to allow people with personal use marijuana offenses more than five years old to be able to obtain a license to operate a child care business. Previously, anyone who received a conviction or withheld judgment for a crime involving marijuana was denied licensure.

Licensing is a requirement within city limits for those who care for two or more children from more than one set of parents.

"In recent years, the use of marijuana has become prevalent, especially on college campuses and in nearby states," said Kathy Lewis, deputy city clerk. "Applicants are applying for child care licenses that may have had a marijuana charge 10 years ago, when they were 18 or 19, and no record since."

Lewis told the council there is a shortage of child care providers in the city, and relaxing the code could help fill the gap. She said the city's child care commission often receives applications from highly-qualified and educated individuals who have to be denied because of a marijuana offense that may have happened decades prior.

Under the newly amended code, individuals who were convicted of, or had withheld judgment on, a charge of possession of marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia for personal use will be allowed to get a license as long as the matter occurred more than five years prior to them seeking licensure.

Councilman Dan Gookin cast the sole opposing vote on the change, primarily because he feels relaxing current rules related to marijuana does not go far enough. In an interview with The Press, Gookin said the code picks on marijuana users and creates a double standard when comparing the substance to how alcohol is treated.

"You can get a DUI on Saturday night, have your car impounded, and still go work your child care job on Monday. You just can't drive kids around," Gookin added. "But if you do pot in your own house on a Saturday night, and somehow you get caught, you lose your license."

Any convictions related to harder drugs, Gookin said, should absolutely prevent someone from obtaining a child care license in the city of Coeur d'Alene. But, with laws regarding marijuana relaxing throughout the country, the councilman said he thinks Coeur d'Alene, and Idaho as a whole, should reassess its hardline stance.

"Pot users aren't known for getting stoned and beating their kids," Gookin said. "It's a harmless thing that wastes resources and puts extra bodies in our jails. We need to just recognize it for what it is."