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The employee of the suburban northwest Calgary liquor store was aghast to learn a cannabis shop has been proposed a few doors down.

“I couldn’t work here any more if that was here,” she said, summoning visions of dangerous addicts gathering to menace the strip mall.

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Neighbours’ response to the same retail bid expressed similar disbelief, mixed with anger and oft-repeated fears over safety.

“Druggies and drug users are losers and are not welcome in this community, no cannabis stores,” wrote one area resident in feedback supplied to city officials.

Several said they’d consider moving out of the area if the store, whose rejection by city officials is being appealed, was ever approved.

This is part of the public mindset greeting the legalization of cannabis whose commercial proponents are hoping to overcome, while expanding demand amid a relatively small consumer base.

Statistics Canada says 17 per cent of Albertans aged 15 and up admit to having used marijuana over a previous three-month period, a number higher than the national average of 14 per cent.