Pubdate: Wed, 12 Nov 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Kristen Wyatt, the Associated Press

MANY POT SHOPS CLASH WITH NEIGHBORS

Proposal for Joint Marketing Plan Leads to Anger From Antique Stores

DENVER (AP) - The booming new marijuana industry has an image 
problem. Not with government officials and the public - but with 
other businesses.

 From crime fears to smell complaints, new marijuana retailers and 
growers face suspicion and sometimes open antagonism from their 
commercial neighbors, especially in Denver, which now has 200 
marijuana retailers and dozens of pot growing and manufacturing facilities.

The strife went public last week along a once-forlorn stretch of 
highway south of downtown Denver now sprinkled with marijuana shops.

About two dozen pot shops along this stretch of Broadway, often 
dubbed "Broadsterdam," had a marketing idea for the upcoming holiday 
shopping season. Why not join forces with neighboring antique shops 
to market the whole area as "The Green Mile"?

The pot shops called a meeting, expecting an enthusiastic response 
from neighboring businesses that have seen boarded-up storefronts 
replaced with bustling pot shops with lines out the door. Instead, 
the suggestion unleashed a torrent of anger from the antique shops.

"We don't want to work with you," said James Neisler, owner of 
Heidelberg Antiques. "Your customers, they're the long-haired stinky 
types. They go around touching everything and they don't buy anything."

The meeting went downhill from there. Despite the support of some 
neighbors - one quipped that stoned shoppers carrying lots of cash 
have been great for business - the proposal exposed simmering 
antagonism. The pot shops feel they've revitalized a blighted 
neighborhood. Some tenants say pot has ruined a neighborhood lined 
with storefronts that date to the 1940s.

It's a clash that is playing out in other communities in Colorado and 
Washington that allow marijuana businesses - and could stretch to 
other states now that Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., have all 
legalized recreational pot.

The central-Colorado city of Manitou Springs voted last week on 
whether to kick out recreational pot shops. The ballot measure was 
proposed by other business owners who complained a dispensary was 
harming the tourist town's family-friendly reputation. The ballot 
measure failed.

Jason Warf, executive director of the Southern Colorado Cannabis 
Council, said his 30 or so members frequently clash with other 
businesses. In fact, his group was formed when existing chambers of 
commerce rejected cannabis-related members.

"They should accept us and embrace us for what we've done, the jobs 
we've created and the tourists we bring," Warf said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom