City officials in Englewood, Colorado have extended the city’s moratorium on cannabis clubs while they consider regulatory possibilities.
Colorado has faced a bit of a conundrum since the opening of its recreational marijuana market last year: laws prohibit public cannabis consumption, leaving tourists and social users who have legally purchased bud nowhere to legally consume it. Smoking or vaping marijuana is banned on public streets, parks, and in hotels, putting consumers in a bind.
To combat this, social cannabis club iBake Englewood opened this past June in Englewood, Colorado. Inside the club, recreational users can smoke a joint or vape THC concentrates while socializing with other users, and still remain within the parameters of the law.
When iBake Englewood opened, city officials were taken by surprise, and the Englewood City Council scrambled to pass a ban on social cannabis clubs — and placed a moratorium on the opening of additional clubs in the meantime.
But now the city has stepped back from the idea, and has assembled a task force to draft regulations on future clubs.
Though Englewood just renewed its six-month moratorium, interim community development director Mike Flaherty says it’s because the city needs more time to study the issue and draft possible regulations—in lieu of an outright ban.
Photo Credit: Leslie J. Clary