As more and more people enjoy the benefits of marijuana legalization in California, it seems cannabis consumers aren’t the only ones getting high. Already lofty home values in the Bay Area could experience an additional boost thanks to the growing pot industry. 

According to The Mercury News, researchers studying the impact of marijuana legalization on home prices in Denver got some surprising results. They found that homes located close to marijuana dispensaries saw a value increase of more than eight percent when compared to homes located further away.

James Conklin, a real estate professor who co-authored the study “Contact High: The External Effects of Retail Marijuana Establishments on House Prices,” told The Mercury News that “we thought maybe there would be a negative impact. I think our takeaway after working on the project was that we don’t see a negative effect—we do see results point to a positive effect.” 

Neighborhood Dispensary, The Joint, in Denver, CO

If it happened in Denver, it could soon happen in California too. San Francisco has long been a marijuana-friendly city, and with the drug’s recent legalization, more people are lighting up legally. For cannabis consumers, there could be a lot of appeal to living in a neighborhood with dispensaries.

But not everyone believes marijuana will have a solely positive effect on real estate prices. According to the Sacramento Bee, there could also be drawbacks from your home being close to a marijuana dispensary.

While regulations do require pot growers to implement some methods of odor control, it’s unclear just how effective those rules will be at preventing smells from wafting out into the neighborhood. Some interested buyers looking to settle down in the Bay Area may not want to risk having to smell marijuana in the air for the rest of their lives. Families with children could also be turned off by the idea of buying a home near a dispensary, due to the stigma that is still associated with marijuana use. 

“If it did end up being a problem with crime or a stigma associated with the cultivation of cannabis, that could be an issue,” real estate appraiser Ryan Lundquist told the Sacramento Bee.