Colorado’s marijuana legalization may have hit a little of snag since now Home Owners Associations have started banning pot growing even when it’s contained within a homeowner’s property.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , those who oppose the wave of marijuana legalization sweeping the nation have been denouncing any legislation working its way through the system. For example, Nora Volkow is the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and she claims that marijuana legalization could be more dangerous than already legal tobacco and alcohol. Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation, has even claimed that Colorado’s marijuana legalization has caused “an increase in car crashes, DUIs, and fatal slip-and-fall accidents” and she believes Florida’ medical marijuana amendment will become a so-called “pot express.”
Although medical marijuana has been legal in Colorado since 200, and recreational marijuana legal since this year, there apparently persists the notion that cannabis is bad for the neighborhood. While some HOAs have responded to legal weed by allowing homeowners to grow pot, others have turned it into another political debate and banned marijuana growing.
Unfortunately for those who enjoy pot smoking, the law is on the side of those who want to ban pot. If neighbors can see or smell weed HOAs are allowed to regulate marijuana as a nuisance or a threat to children. Richard Thompson owns a consulting company focused on HOAs and he says, “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.”
Even hemp growing has come under fire. A retiree named Jim Denny decided to grow the crop on a 7,500 square foot plot of land on his property and the HOA stopped him in his tracks:
“As soon as they heard about it, they said, `We’re not going to let anyone grow marijuana here.’ I explained to them that hemp is not marijuana, but they were dead-set against it. I had people calling up and saying, `It’s just a shame; we’ll pay your fines all the way through to the end.’ But I decided in the end not to fight it. At the end of the day, I live here.”
Do you think it’s fair that a HOA can ban marijuana growing from a homeowner’s property.
