Smoke and a pancake? Denver will be first to allow pot smoking in bars and restaurants
Smoking cigarettes in public bars and restaurants has been forbidden almost everywhere, but another type of smoke will now be allowed at select bars and restaurants in Denver, Colorado.
The largest city in the state, leading the way on cannabis rights, has passed Initiative 300, which will allow business to apply for permits that will designate on-site “consumption areas,” according to The Denver Post and the Business Insider.
City officials will still need to figure out what the passage of the initiative will mean to the pot-smoking public, but the creation of a four-year pilot program means that businesses from bars, cafes, restaurants and even spaces like yoga and meditation studios would be able to get permits to have those consumption areas. They would, however, first need to get backing from a local neighborhood or business group.
Businesses could begin to apply by January 1, though it’s not known when the first permits would be issued.
“This is something the city can experiment with for the next couple of years — and either adopt it permanently or make tweaks to it or decide to take a different approach,” said Mason Tvert, a marijuana activist, according to the story.
This is the first program of its kind in the country, one that is slowly going pot-friendly, with the recent elections now approving casual use for several states, including California. It is still a pilot program and could go against the state’s ban on public use of cannabis.
But the passage of Initiative 300 could be a boon for pot marketers and set a precedent for bolder pot initiatives and marketing for those states looking to Colorado for guidance on this ever-changing issue.