As Canada poised to legalize marijuana in 2017, CBC News reporter Solomon Israel went to Denver to see how the fledgling pot industry there has affected the living places.

Even though pot isn't yet legal in Canada, marijuana dispensaries have already been taking root in Toronto neighbourhoods like Kensington Market and the Danforth.

And while that's sparked complaints to police and local councillors, it could be worse.

The neighbourhoods also house a large number of Denver's marijuana businesses. According to a June analysis by the Denver Post, there are 54 cultivation facilities, 12 manufacturing facilities, and 12 marijuana stores in Elyria-Swansea alone . Roughly 6,600 people live in that neighbourhood.

Candi CdeBaca has deep roots in Elyria-Swansea and owns a home directly across the street from a nondescript warehouse where pot plants are grown. CdeBaca said that marijuana growers took advantage of the neighbourhood's empty commercial real estate after the 2008 recession, and the city did nothing to stop them from concentrating in the area.

CdeBaca, a neighbourhood activist and executive director of a local non-profit said, "I feel like it was an easy target because it was already zoned for commercial use. And because it was cheap."

The warehouses, have been used to produce marijuana that's mostly sold elsewhere, and CdeBaca said that translates into businesses that have no stake in improving their neighbourhood.

CdeBaca said, "They don't care about the communities that they're in, they don't care what their building looks like, they don't care what the community smells like, because they never are planning to bring their clients into these communities to do business,"

By Prakriti Neogi