Rocky Mountain high: Denver allows pot in bars, eateries

Voters in Denver overwhelmingly supported proposition 300 which allows for the recreational use of marijuana in bars and restaurants within the city borders.

Today it is the turn of the city of Denver, Colorado (where smoking weed has been permitted since 2014) to soften its stance towards marijuana. Some ballots remained uncounted.

Already, the demand for Mammoth’s product has been on the rise to meet the demand of more marijuana cultivation facilities serving more legal dispensaries, said owner Colin Bell, who founded the company in 2015.

It’s the first US city to legalize marijuana use at public establishments. No citizen should be growing drugs for another.

Holt said, “My advice to people who smoke: do it off campus to avoid any troubles”.

The city of Denver, Colorado has decided that a glass of wine or a steak for dinner would probably be good with some rolled-up marijuana. Or maybe some marijuana? The catch: Smoking pot won’t be allowed inside, and the locations would have to first get the approval of neighbors.

The initiative draws on the knowledge of drug policy professionals, public health advocates, the medical community, and local activists to promote policy decisions that champion the public health without demonizing, or criminalizing, marijuana use.

Denver’s measure takes effect immediately, but it has a lot of caveats. They can have under 10 ounces in their home and under 1 ounce in public and be allowed to grow six plants. Where state law includes anti-discrimination or accommodation provisions, employers should engage in a fact-specific inquiry prior to taking adverse action based on an employee’s medical marijuana use.

Business owners that want to allow customers to use pot while in their establishments also face some restrictions.

Founded in 2012, the annual Marijuana Business Conference and Expo returned to Las Vegas for its fifth year with more than 300 exhibitors and 7,500 participants.

The marijuana consumption areas created under Initiative 300 could be either indoors or outdoors. Depending on the time it takes for this application to be put together, businesses could be applying for a permit as early as January. Right now, there’s some confusion over whether the state or local jurisdictions are responsible for enforcing the law, said County Assistant Manager Mike Callagy. It lays out how California will regulate the industry, deal with convicts of cannabis-related crimes, and tax the growth and sale of recreational marijuana.

Denver would become the first city to actually implement the new plan, he said.

But don’t just think of this new initiative as a cannabis club, it will also give places like yoga studios the ability to hold a cannabis class, or let a comedy club have a cannabis night.

Furthermore, even states that have already legalized marijuana are becoming cautionary tales for future voters and current policymakers, stressing the importance of holding the commercial marijuana industry accountable for its actions and warning of the unintended but now-proven consequences of too little regulation.

“With Nevada, California, Maine, and MA [legalizing recreational marijuana], you’re going to have a lot of people on the East Coast staying on the East Coast”, he said. Opponent Rachel O’Bryan, however, asks how “these businesses possibly monitor patrons for marijuana intoxication?”

The Boston Globe wrote in support of the ballot measure, arguing, “legal marijuana is coming”. Close monitoring of tax compliance also costs the state money from its medical marijuana tax revenues, which are about to endure a lean year.

Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.