Cannabis Lounges & Delivery Coming to Denver

The Denver City Council this week gave final approval to new cannabis delivery and consumption lounge regulations, Westword reports.

The rules were approved unanimously after two years of deliberating the new regulations with industry stakeholders and Denver community representatives (Colorado lawmakers approved statewide delivery and social use rules in 2019 but that law requires local municipalities to opt in to such a program).

The programs are expected to be fully implemented by July.

“You know cannabis has arrived when marijuana bills pass through Denver City Council with literally no comment. That never would have happened in the old days.” —  Truman Bradley, director of the Marijuana Industry Group, via Westword

Under the new delivery rules, licensed businesses will be allowed to conduct deliveries until the dispensary closing time of 10 pm but orders can only be received at residential addresses. People placing the orders will have to show ID and deliveries will be limited to just one ounce of flower, eight grams of concentrate, or edibles containing up to 800 milligrams of THC.

The city’s new social use regulations will allow more types of businesses to apply to become a cannabis lounge and will legalize indoor smoking, micro-sales, and mobile lounges, although the businesses will still require a 1,000-foot buffer between themselves and any daycare, drug treatment center, park or other city-owned recreation venues.

Additionally, the rules reserve all of Denver’s new cannabis business licenses for applicants who qualify under a social equity designation until 2027, according to the report.

The shift represents Denver’s most significant overhaul of cannabis regulations since the 2014 opening of Colorado‘s first-of-its-kind adult-use cannabis marketplace.