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FORT COLLINS – While one group of community members was celebrating the imminent end to medical marijuana dispensaries in Fort Collins, other residents faced the closure of businesses in which they had invested heavily.

Still others will be looking for new sources for medical marijuana.

In Tuesday’s election, the majority of Fort Collins voters opted to ban dispensaries and the related grow operations within city limits by a 52-to-48 percent margin. The final tally of 36,964 ballots cast was 19,227 for the ban and 17,737 against it.

“We’re feeling great,” said Bob Powell, who headed a citizen group to ban the dispensaries in Fort Collins on the belief that they make the drug more available and accepted throughout the community, causing more illegal use and crime.

“I think it’s a very, very positive thing.”

The city’s 20 dispensaries have 90 days to close, something Steve Ackerman, owner of Organic Alternatives, said he and other owners are not planning to fight. He said the Fort Collins Medical Cannabis Association, at this point, does not plan to challenge the vote.

However, the Colorado United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which invested heavily in fighting the measure, indicated it plans to bring the issue to a vote again next year, either locally or statewide.

But for Ackerman and his 11 employees, the clock is ticking on their livelihood. He must figure out what to do with his equipment and leased space.

“I had a business here that was legitimate, that was licensed by the state and city,” Ackerman said. “I followed all the rules. I never thought I’d be voted out of business.”

While the vote will hit dispensaries hard, the patients who have to travel out of town to find another source for their medicine will suffer the most, Ackerman said.

The above video is from our news partner Northern Colorado 5.