Members of Denver, Colorado’s Social Consumption Advisory Committee are set to hold their third meeting next week, continuing to devise rules under which the voter-approved Initiative 300 will operate in the city. During their second meeting, the committee offered rules restricting social-use clubs from operating 1,000 feet “from where children congregate,” proposing application and operation requirements and determining some “unlawful acts” related to storage, processing, quantity limits, advertising, and visible intoxication.
According to an Associated Press report, state lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow cannabis “tasting rooms” run by dispensaries, or smoke-friendly clubs akin to hookah lounges or cigar bars. The state-level considerations come as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are reportedly fed up with seeing cannabis smoked in public spaces and on the street.
Republican state Sen. Chris Holbert said that he has been asked for cannabis by panhandlers by the state capitol.
“It’s a problem we’ve got to address. I mean, look at me. If I’m getting hassled, everyone’s getting hassled,” Holbert said to reporters while pointing to his suit and gray hair.
A bill to treat cannabis clubs like cigar bars is currently being re-written over language that allowed medical cannabis patients to socially consume – which drew the ire of some lawmakers and opponents of the social use measure. Other legislators indicated that they should move slowly on any new regulations because of uncertainty at the federal level.
The Advisory Committee has three more meetings on its agenda for Mar. 10 and 24, and April 6.