Big companies use national site selectors when determining where to locate offices, factories, etc. These companies don’t simply select a location at random. They perform a significant amount of due diligence and have an expert lead the project. There was recently a meeting in Denver for these types of professionals – the 2014 Metro Denver Site Selection Conference.
Naturally, the topic of cannabis came up quite a bit during the event. A very popular question was whether or not Colorado’s growing cannabis industry helps or hurts the chances of companies relocating part or all of their operations to Colorado. Per Biz Journals:
National site selectors offered differing opinions during a panel discussion Friday on whether Colorado’s legalization of marijuana is harming the state’s ability to attract companies. Their responses ranged from the voter-approved law being a “terrible thing” for the state to it being fairly inconsequential.
Explanations about the limitations of marijuana use — letting companies know that workers can’t fire up a joint on their lunch break, for example — go a long way to minimizing concerns expressed by potentially expanding or relocating companies, several panelists said.
Most of the concerns were expressed by international representatives. Reservations expressed involved such things as marijuana increasing crime, and marijuana being seen as an example of moral erosion in a society. Fortunately, it wouldn’t take a lot to change these representative’s minds, considering that crime has dropped in Colorado since legalization, as has teen use, and fatal accident crashes.
