A VULNERABLE POPULATION?

Concerning the approval of a second marijuana dispensary in the
Myrtletown Shopping Center, as reported in the newspaper:

I want to state up front here that I'm in favor of legalizing
marijuana, and will vote that way whenever it comes up on the ballot.
Nevertheless, I was one of a number of people who did not want a
second marijuana dispensary opened in the Myrtletown Shopping Center.
I withdrew my protest when it became clear to me that my reason for
being opposed was different from that of my neighbors. My opposition
comes from a belief that our elders, or seniors, constitute a
vulnerable population and, as such, deserve special thought when it
comes to zoning, planning and locating certain activities. This would
be analogous to regulations that bar certain types of activities
within a certain distance from schools, daycare centers, and so on.

Because of my age and infirmity, I was physically unable to attend
the Planning Commission meetings or to organize an effective, vocal
opposition; this was distressing, because I could have done it when I
was younger. Yet what dismayed me the most throughout the whole
process was that it was as if we seniors who live just a few steps
away from both of these marijuana dispensaries, the existent one
(that existed illegally) and the proposed one, were not here at all.
As if we could neither be seen nor heard. Yet there are more than 50
of us living here in a group of little attached cottages called Summercreek.

One thing all we human beings have in common is that no matter how
strong, how attractive, how able and effective we may have been in
our youth and on into maturity, some day we will be old and no longer
as we were before. We won't like to admit it, but we do need a
certain amount of special consideration.

So I'm just asking: Do elders, or seniors, constitute a vulnerable
population? Should zoning regulations and things like special use
permits take that into account?