It's not a bad thing for local communities to make choices about what kinds of businesses are allowed and under what circumstances. For example, we do not allow strip clubs in our city because most of us agree that it would hurt the town's public image and because they adversely affect property value. (We also do not allow commercial grow operations within city limits.) I agree with the previous poster that zoning seems a better method of restraining MMCs than banning them, but I absolutely believe that decisions regarding local businesses should be made on the local level when possible rather than by state lawmakers, or (even worse) the federal government. Federalism in action, baby!

In this respect, state lawmakers have treated MMJ as they have alcohol - by giving local communities the option to ban MMCs altogether. This means there's going to be some "dry" counties in Colorado. (One small change to the law that would make it more equitable, would be to require cities or counties to hold a referendum before banning MMCs, rather than banning them by ordinance or statute. That would result in fewer bans, I believe.)