I just couldn't do it!

Ethics and principles would not deter an educated person in the matter of medical marijuana. It helps those with glaucoma, cancer, those going through chemo treatments who have no appetite, those with chronic illnesses that "aleve" does not help.

Also, why the comment about smoking cigarettes or "dubies"? What do cigarettes have to do with anything? 60's and 70's residents? Wow. So are you saying they are the pot smoking hippies or that they are the ones with chronic illnesses that would benefit from legal medical marijuana use?

I think many posting on here need to do A LOT more research on the matter before they further judge the legal use of medical marijuana for medical reasons. I assure you ethics has nothing to do with it.

Getting addicted to pain killers or self medicating with alcohol for pain is often the other choice, both can cause life long addictions, deaths on the road, and other major medical problems.

Dispensaries do not ever allow for smoking on their premises and often deliver to patient's homes. Legally. If the owner of the business is legitimate, there would be no threat to your community or children near by. The drunk driving home, or the vicodin popping soccer mom is the real threat to their lives as they play in the streets.

My suggestion is more research for many of you.

I feel strongly on this b/c my 87 year old grandmother is currently going through chemo, drastically dropping weight because she is not hungry, her stomach hurts, and it's painful.

Sometimes emotions, ideals, and moral beliefs sometimes have to be separated from sheer economics in order for one to make a rational business decision.   I feel for you as this will be a tough situation. 

I had a client (an appraisal client) in a similar situation but it was a location that was approved for an adult book store / entertainment use in Las Vegas.  (Many think that these things are on every street corner in Vegas - not true...) 

These were "pillar of the community" types of people.  The only folks interested in the property in an industrial area at the time were these types of users.  They were also willing to pay twice the rent that an industrial user would typically pay in the same area.  So it made huge economic sense but at great consternation of the property owner. 

The hard decision made was to rent the property to the adult use tenants.  However, the owners/landlords could not stomach being involved with such operations occupying their property so they sold the building as soon as possible with these solid renters in place as they did not wish to own a building with those types of tenants.  (These are people with children as well.  She asked, "What do I tell my children?" if they found out.  I didn't have an answer for her.  I told her she may wish to just sell the property and that's what they did.) 

Emelyn,

Have you as of yet posted a postlet on AR to get this property really well indexed on Google. Don't give up the right buyer may be lurking nearby very soon. Best of luck.

Just a note.  I can't imagine there's any steering violations here at all.  There is NO compulsion for Emelyn to rent to anybody in a commercial scenario. 

I am a commercial appraisal practitioner and I can't even count the number of times that I have seen USE COVENANT / RESTRICTION (CC&R'S) that restrict the types and kinds of uses.  I've seen restrictions for pharmacies, grocery stores, adult uses, industrial uses, cemeteries, restaurants, you name it. 

Typically these covenants are made when there is an ethical, economic, or neighborhood compatbility concern by an owner.  And these typically are upheld in court as valid covenants.   If Emelyn could create a USE COVENANT/RESTRICTION for a medical marijuana dispensary I see absolutely no reason why she couldn't also discriminate against them and refuse to rent to them. 

What is the functional difference?  None...

I think those who are concerned about Emelyn violating "Steering Laws" have been spending too much time in the warped, politically correct world of residential real estate to understand how the game is really played in the commercial arena or how the laws actually work in the commercial arena. 

I believe it is totally Emelyn's call here and her latitude to discriminate against any use is very deep and very broad in my opinion for a commercial property. 

My prior post is just an anecdotal story about how another client of mine solved a similar dilemma.  I surely do not wish to see Emelyn go broke here if this legal use is the only available use for her right now in this horrible economy. 

Emelyn, tough decision, right choice for you.  No apologies.  Great discussion and diverse opinions. Congratulations.

We are in Frisco, Colorado and own a mixed use building that is mostly vacant.  We hate having to carry it every month.  Almost weekly we are approached by someone wanting to sell, grow or otherwise handle medical marijuana.  We have turned away dozens of tenants and lots of money.  What we find is that is the prospective tenants want to turn a "passion" or "hobby" into a business.   We also find that 99% of them lie to us at the outset about their business plans.  Once it's time to sign the lease, they spill the beans that they are in the marijuana business.  Almost every one has not investigated the town's rules about medical marijuana. 

We don't want the liability that goes with this type of facility.  A few weeks ago in Breckenridge, two young adults, licensed to grow medical marijuana, were severly burned when butane gas exploded in their bedroom - butane being used incorrectly to grow marijuana.  Imagine being the landlord of that apartment!

So, we fight the good fight every day to find an appropriate tenant for our space.  Good luck to you and I hope your coffee shop opportunity works out.  Just double check that it really is a coffee shop!

I strongly believe in karma....... and you made the right choice ...... and looks to me like Positive karma is coming your way....hang in there all will work out fine....Just keep on making good choices...:)

I've seen a couple messages wondering how come there are so many dispensaries popping up and who would be doing med. MJ.  Just a couple of quick numbers because I have done some volunteer work with the American Caner Society in the past.  Currently around 550,000 Americans die each year from cancer.  Number one cause of death in both men and women is lung cancer.  Number two in women is breast cancer and number two for men is a tie between prostate and colon cancer.  The last numbers I heard for survival rates was around 60-65% after 5 years.  In 2008 there were 1.4 million new cases of cancer and 565,000 died that year.  The 1.4 million did not include non-melanoma skin cancer.  There were also around 120,000 cases of blindness due to glaucoma.  So over the 5 year trend used for survival rates, 7million will be diagnosed and 2.75 will die from cancer alone.  Cancer and glaucoma are the top two deceases reported to have significant pain relief and diet increase when MJ is used. 

I do not use pot nor do I endorse it's use where it is not lawful, but if this many people are sick and in pain or dying and it's not addictive, I think it's time for a change in the national discussion on legalization and maybe we can start removing the stigma brought on by Cheech and Chong.  Fact is 45% of all Americans have tried pot. Compared to the Netherlands where it is legal, but only around 20% have tried it. (Time Magazine).  I also believe it is an un-winable war that contributes billions of dollars to really bad people and uses up tons of national and state resources our country could be using some place else.   Hope the numbers are as eye opening to you as they were to me!

I love log buildings. It would be a great place for a coffee shop and less hassle for you than the other use.

Take the money...you cannot protect everyone from everything  (in fact, it's unfair, to restrict a legit commercial enterprise because you disagree with it!)

All the nice families can simply drive by without stopping, like they do the liquor stores and Victoria Secrets shop.

You do have a right to limit their signage, make them keep the premises neat, and avoid offensive behavior by themselves and their customers.

Come on 60's and 70's were the right answer and was the two worst decades in American history. After it is all said and done those will be the two decades remembered for the fall of America.

It has been suggested to me that if you remember the 60's, you did not live them.