Cannabis Lounges are Heading to Denver

City officials have released Denver’s final version of rules and regulations for social cannabis consumption lounges on June 30. The ordinance rules were set up to regulate Initiative 300, which was approved by voters last November. The city’s three-year pilot program will allow social consumption lounges to open up as early as fall 2017

Potential social consumption sites will have to not only get approvals from the city, but they will need approval from neighborhoods, as liquor stores and dispensaries do. In addition, buffer zones have made opening business difficult. Business patrons, however, will no longer have to sign a waiver in order to consume cannabis at a social consumption lounge.

Some I-300 committee members have issues with the current property restrictions. “I am pleased to see some technical improvements were incorporated in the final draft that a lot of us presented concerns about, but there are still fundamental parts of these rules that don’t represent the intentions of the initiative,” Emmett Reistroffer, a member of the committee and the campaign director for I-300, told Westword. “The proximity restrictions combined with the zoning restrictions go so far that we’re worried about finding enough businesses that qualify for them.”

Local advocates worry if social consumption businesses will be able to open at all, given the excessively restrictive buffer zones that push businesses away. For instance, no business with a liquor license may apply for social consumption license.

The city’s Consumption Advisory Committee was set up shortly after voters approved I-300, and the agency met at least six times since January. The three-year pilot program will end when it is up for review by the Denver City Council in 2020.

According to public officials from Excise and Licenses, Denver’s application process for social consumption sites has not yet begun and won’t begin until new licensing platforms and city inspections have been completed.