URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n673/a09.html
Newshawk: chip
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 17 Nov 2016
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
STONER CITY, USA
In Denver it’€™s now easier to get high in public than to smoke cigarettes.
Denver voters last week passed a first-of-its-kind referendum allowing consumption of pot in public settings, though the new law has so many caveats and complexities that hipsters may have to hire a fleet of consultants. Cannabis liberationists: meet the regulatory state.
In 2012 Colorado voters approved a ballot measure legalizing marijuana statewide in part on the premise that it would reduce law enforcement costs and minority arrests. Neither turned out to be true since so many people were caught illegally using pot in public. Thus the good progressives in the Mile High City crafted a local initiative providing more freedom to consume weed outside of one’€™s home.
Bars and restaurants will now be able to give customers an option of consuming pot a la carte. While patrons won’€™t be allowed to smoke indoors, they can vape away and there may be designated smoking areas outdoors. Bars will also be prohibited from selling weed alongside food and drink – thus protecting licenced marijuana dispensaries from competition – so hipsters will have to bring their own pot.
The many carveouts include one for businesses such as yoga studios that could serve weed alongside food and cocktails so long as the pot isn’€™t for sale, strictly speaking. To obtain a permit, businesses must pay a $1,000 application fee plus an additional $1,000 annually. They would also have to demonstrate compliance with sundry safety rules such as providing a “€œplan that demonstrates how rental cannabis consumption will be cleaned and sanitized.”
They must also show a€œevidence of community support -€Â� including the backing of an “€œeligible neighborhood association or business improvement district.”€Â� NIMBY groups may extort, er, require conditions for their support. Hipsters will learn what it means to do business with co-op boards and homeowner associations that may not want skunk weed aromas wafting through public spaces.
Designated consumption areas will have to be marked with “€œconspicuous signage measuring not less than forty ( 40 ) square inches in size that includes the statement ‘€˜NO ENTRY UNDER 21’€™ in all upper case letters not less than one ( 1 ) inch high.”€Â� The law also specifies that “€œany outside smoking of cannabis occurring at the street level is not visible from a public right-of-way or a place where children congregate.”
If nothing else, Denver’™s stoners will now find it easier to get high on pot than to smoke cigarettes.
MAP posted-by: Matt