Officials at Denver homeless shelters say the legalization of marijuana has contributed to an increase in the number of younger people living on the city's streets.
The deputy director of Urban Peak, which specifically helps homeless youth, tells The Denver Post that the majority of new young people it is seeing say they're in Colorado because of marijuana. At the St. Francis Center, a daytime homeless shelter, pot is the second most frequently volunteered reason for being in Colorado, after looking for work.
The Salvation Army's men's shelter has seen an increase in the number of 18- to 25-year-olds. An informal survey found that about a quarter of the increase was related to marijuana, including some who moved hoping to find work in the marijuana industry.
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