Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 23 august 2017
Denver to start licensing first pot clubs, but few may apply

By KRISTEN NICHOLS
Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s
largest city is on the brink of
licensing some of the na-
tion’s first legal marijuana
clubs.
But Denver’s elaborate
hurdles for potential weed-
friendly coffee shops and
gathering places may
mean the city gets few tak-
ers for the new licenses.
Denver voters approved
bring-your-own-pot clubs in
a ballot measure last year
after city officials’ dragged
their feet on calls to give le-
gal pot smokers a place to
use the drug. The city plans
to start accepting appli-
cations by the end of the
month. “There are plenty
of places where you can
consume alcohol. Let’s
give people a place to go
to consume marijuana,”
said Jordan Person, head
of Denver NORML, which
advocates for pot-friendly In this Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017, photo, Jim Norris poses for a photo outside of his information cafe called Mutiny in south Denver.
public policy. Associated Press
But Denver’s would-be “so- nesses. “They reflect all the out, everybody-coming-to- tiny, with pot-club status. even allowing bicycle bars
cial use” clubs have faced comments we got from the get-high kind of thing,” he The south Denver store sells to cruise past schools and
one delay after another. community.” said. used books and records. It churches. The mobile bars
First, the state liquor board One hopeful applicant Jim Norris also would like also has a coffee shop and with drivers ferry groups of
prohibited pot use at any says the regulations are to infuse his business, Mu- hosts comedy shows and pedaling drinkers from one
place with a liquor license, other events. tavern to the next.
making bars and many res- But the pot club licenses “You can ride these stupid
taurants off-limits. don’t come cheap. Ap- moronic bike bars down
And pot shops can’t allow plying for one costs $1,000; the street, getting ham-
consumption on the prem- the licenses itself is $1,000 a mered in public. But we’re
ises. That left gathering year. not giving people a safer
places like coffee shops, Khalatbari has sued Colo- choice, even though vot-
art galleries and yoga stu- rado’s liquor regulators ers have said over and over
dios. Furthermore, would- over the ban on pot and again they want to go that
be clubs must stay twice alcohol in the same loca- way,” Khalatbari said.
as far as liquor stores from tion, a lawsuit that hasn’t Colorado’s marijuana law
schools and anywhere yet been heard, and says neither allows nor denies
children congregate, in- he is considering a lawsuit pot clubs, leaving the state
cluding playgrounds and against the city for what with a patchwork of local
sports fields. “We can’t be In this Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017, photo, a sign is affixed to the he believes are onerous club rules.
in places where it makes window of an information cafe named Mutiny as pedestrians club rules. Khalatbari noted Some cities tolerate them;
sense,” said Kayvan Khalat- pass by in south Denver. Denver has much looser in others, clubs operate un-
bari, a Denver marijuana Associated Press distance requirements derground, with members
consultant who helped run for places selling alcohol, arranging meetups using
last year’s club campaign. stringent but still a step for- social media.
City officials say the rules ward for the industry. State lawmakers earlier this
are as flexible as possible “A lot of us are hoping this year decided against a
given stiff resistance from will ... open the doors for plan to regulate marijuana
some community groups a new kind of business,” clubs statewide.
and marijuana skeptics. said Connor Lux, who runs Democratic Gov. John
The voter-approved club a co-work space for the Hickenlooper warned that
measure also says the club cannabis industry and passing the measure could
licenses are a pilot program plans to apply for a social invite a federal crackdown.
and neighborhood groups use license to hold public, The situation is similar in oth-
must agree to allow a club weed-friendly events at his er legal-pot states.
before it could open. business just north of down- Alaska’s 2014 marijuana
“There were no surprises in town Denver. measure allowed for on-
the rules,” said Dan Row- Lux envisions open-to-the- site pot consumption at
land, spokesman for the public networking events In this Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017, photo, customers pick through potential “tasting rooms,”
Denver department that at his space. the records on display inside of an information cafe called though regulators in that
regulates marijuana busi- “I don’t think anyone’s Mutiny in south Denver. state have yet to allow any
planning a giant smoke- Associated Press to open.q