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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 23 august 2017
Denver to start licensing first pot clubs, but few may apply

cannabis industry and to infuse his business, Mu- that hasn’t yet been heard,
plans to apply for a social tiny, with pot-club status. and says he is considering
use license to hold pub- The south Denver store sells a lawsuit against the city
lic, weed-friendly events used books and records. It for what he believes are
at his business just north of also has a coffee shop and onerous club rules.
downtown Denver. Lux en- hosts comedy shows and Khalatbari noted Denver
visions open-to-the-public other events. But the pot has much looser distance
networking events at his club licenses don’t come requirements for places
space. cheap. Applying for one selling alcohol, even allow-
“I don’t think anyone’s costs $1,000; the licenses it- ing bicycle bars to cruise
planning a giant smoke- self is $1,000 a year. Khalat- past schools and churches.
out, everybody-coming-to- bari has sued Colorado’s The mobile bars with driv-
get-high kind of thing,” he liquor regulators over the ers ferry groups of pedaling
said. ban on pot and alcohol in drinkers from one tavern to
Jim Norris also would like the same location, a lawsuit the next.q

In this Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017,
photo, a sign is affixed to the
window of an information cafe
named Mutiny as pedestrians
pass by in south Denver. Shop
owner Jim Norris is hoping
to license his storefront as
one of the nation’s first legal
marijuana clubs.
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Continued from front

That left gathering places
like coffee shops, art galler-
ies and yoga studios. Fur-
thermore, would-be clubs
must stay twice as far as
liquor stores from schools
and anywhere children
congregate, including
playgrounds and sports
fields.
“We can’t be in places
where it makes sense,” said
Kayvan Khalatbari, a Den-
ver marijuana consultant
who helped run last year’s
club campaign.
City officials say the rules
are as flexible as possible
given stiff resistance from
some community groups
and marijuana skeptics.
The voter-approved club
measure also says the club
licenses are a pilot pro-
gram and neighborhood
groups must agree to al-
low a club before it could
open.
“There were no surprises in
the rules,” said Dan Row-
land, spokesman for the
Denver department that
regulates marijuana busi-
nesses. “They reflect all the
comments we got from the
community.”
One hopeful applicant
says the regulations are
stringent but still a step for-
ward for the industry.
“A lot of us are hoping this
will ... open the doors for
a new kind of business,”
said Connor Lux, who runs
a co-work space for the