Pubdate: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2014 Associated Press Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Page: 6K HOAS TAKING ON WEED, LIKE WEEDS (AP) - Marijuana and hemp have joined wacky paint colors and unsightly fences as common neighborhood disputes facing homeowners associations. Though a few HOAs have willingly changed their rules to accommodate legal marijuana use or home-growing, many more are banning home pot smoking. Homeowners associations can't ban members from using marijuana in their homes. But if neighbors can see or smell weed, HOAs have every right to regulate the drug as a nuisance. "The fact that people may be legally entitled to smoke doesn't mean they can do it wherever they want, any more than they could walk into a restaurant and light up a cigarette," said Richard Thompson, who owns a management consulting company that specializes in HOAs. Growing pot and hemp is prompting neighbor disputes, too. Jim Denny, a Brighton retiree, learned the hard way that he needed HOA permission before growing hemp. "As soon as they heard about it, they said, 'We're not going to let anyone grow marijuana here,' " Denny said. "I explained to them that hemp is not marijuana." Hemp activists volunteered to pay Denny's fines for flouting the HOA, which could have run to $600 a day. "But I decided in the end not to fight it," he said. "At the end of the day, I live here." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom