Colorado is one of 14 states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal use. Like every other state, Colorado is wrestling with legalizing a drug in the state the remains illegal under federal law.
For some Colorado residents, the divisive debate about medical marijuana goes beyond hazy public policy questions; it's personal.
Mary Hesterman is an outspoken supporter of Question 300 on the Nov. 1 election ballot that would ban medical marijuana businesses from Fort Collins, Colorado.
Hesterman said the presence of marijuana dispensaries sends a message to the community's youths that drug abuse - which nearly led her 16-year-old daughter to suicide - is acceptable.
But for Jim Dunlap, who has battled increasingly severe neurological symptoms for years, medical marijuana has provided relief from pain and nausea where prescription medications failed.
Having a reliable dispensary in town that can supply the strains of marijuana he needs has given him great comfort, he said. Instead of being bedridden with pain, he can interact with his family and friends and lead a better life.
A mother's worry
Hesterman's work with Concerned Fort Collins Citizens, which put the proposed ban on the ballot through a petition drive, stems from her daughter, Becky's, experience with drug use.
Becky began experimenting with marijuana as a student at Fossil Ridge High School. She went from being an engaged, happy student to one who frequently skipped classes and fell in with a new crowd of friends her family didn't know.
Her grades fell and she became increasingly detached and depressed. Counseling and the imposition of more rules did no good. Becky snuck out of the house at night and got into trouble at school. She dabbled in a variety of illegal drugs, including heroin.
Her mother said drugs turned her into a pathological liar with absolutely no conscience.
Becky sunk so low she posted a suicide note on Facebook that was noticed by "somebody's mother - I still don't know who," Hesterman said.
When police arrived, Becky was headed to her room and a large stash of pills.
After receiving mental-health treatment in Fort Collins, Becky was sent to a residential program in Utah, where she has flourished and remained sober. The treatment program is not covered by insurance, so the family took out a second mortgage on its house to help cover the $5,000-a-month bill.
Hesterman does not link medical marijuana dispensaries to Becky's drug problem, but she does believe the businesses give youth the impression marijuana is safe when "nothing could be further from the truth," she said.
The Other Side of the Medical Marijuana Story
Shutting down dispensaries won't curtail marijuana use any more than Prohibition stopped alcohol use, Dunlap said.
How’s this for logic? If medical marijuana shops are bad for the city's image, he said, so are its many tattoo parlors and liquor stores.
Dunlap, 51, is a former Realtor and a competitive cyclist. Around 2000, he began to experience disturbing symptoms, including numbness, flashes of phantom pain in his chest and extremities and nausea.
Doctors told him the neurological symptoms might be attributable to multiple sclerosis, but tests have not come up with a clear diagnosis.
He continued to suffer a variety of ailments, including weakness, searing pain and intestinal disorders. He can walk short distances, but often uses a wheelchair.
A friend suggested trying medical marijuana. First, he had success using a marijuana-infused cream to ease pain in his arm. Then, he tried edibles.
A recovering alcoholic, he was hesitant to smoke marijuana out of fear it would lead to another addiction. But working with a local dispensary, he found a strain of marijuana that gives him energy while keeping his head clear. Another strain helps him sleep.
Question 300 from both sides
If voters approve Question 300, the city's 20 existing businesses would have to shut down within 90 days. Many other cities in Northern Colorado recently have banned dispensaries, and every bank in the state will no longer accept their money.
Supporters say the dispensary model that has flourished across the city and state since 2009 was not what voters intended when they approved a constitutional amendment allowing the use of marijuana to treat certain debilitating medical conditions.