Bring your own weed: Denver allows pot in bars, eateries

[webfact]

Bring your own weed: Denver allows pot in bars, eateries

By KRISTEN WYATT

 

DENVER (AP) — Denver has approved a first-in-the-nation law allowing people to use marijuana at bars, restaurants and other public spaces such as art galleries or yoga studios.

 

The catch: Patrons could use pot as long as it isn't smoked and the locations would have to seek the approval of neighbors.

Denver voters approved Proposition 300 as eight other states legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes last week. The Denver vote was so close that it took an entire week for supporters to claim victory and opponents to concede.

 

"It's the sensible thing to do," said Emmett Reistroffer, a Denver marijuana consultant and campaign manager for the pot-in-bars measure. "This is about personal responsibility and respecting adults who want to have a place to enjoy cannabis."

 

The city measure takes effect immediately, but it has a lot of caveats.

 

First, interested bars and restaurants would have to show they have neighborhood support before getting a license to allow marijuana use. In addition, patrons would have to bring their own weed to comply with state law banning the sale of both pot and food or drink at a single location.

 

Patrons at participating bars could use pot inside as long as it isn't smoked. The law does provide for the possibility of outside smoking areas under restrictive circumstances.

 

Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the national Marijuana Policy Project and a Denver proponent of the consumption law, said the measure would reduce instances of tourists smoking pot on sidewalks and in parks because they have nowhere private to consume weed.

 

A Denver billboard promoting the measure featured a large arrow pointing to a sidewalk below, telling voters that without a provision for social pot use, folks will keep smoking pot in plain view.

 

"We are setting up a system that is still more restrictive than what we see with alcohol consumption," Tvert said.

 

Supporters of the measure had no guess on how many establishments would apply for the permits or how long it would take for them to demonstrate community acceptance and receive permits. So it could take many months before Denver sees any Amsterdam-style coffee shops.

 

The measure sunsets in 2020, unless city officials renew the licenses or voters make the pot-in-bars measure permanent.

Current Colorado law does not allow or ban public marijuana use. The result is a hodgepodge of local ordinances related to marijuana clubs.

 

Denver is the first city to allow use in bars and restaurants. The state Legislature is expected to consider a bill next year to clarify that communities can allow on-site pot consumption if they wish.

 

Alaska is the only state that allows on-site consumption at pot retailers. However, the state doesn't allow use in bars or restaurants, and it's still working on rules for how those pot shop "tasting rooms" would operate.

 

California's recreational marijuana measure approved last week specifically allows pot clubs, and legalization measures approved in Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada don't rule out on-site pot consumption on private property.

 

Opponents of the Denver measure predicted neighborhoods would resist bars, restaurants and other venues seeking pot licenses. They warned the measure won't properly protect the public from stoned patrons leaving a bar that allows smoking and drinking at the same time.

 

"How can these businesses possibly monitor patrons for marijuana intoxication?" opponent Rachel O'Bryan said in a statement Tuesday.

 

The measure would require any interested bar or restaurant to specially train staff in marijuana use and submit an operations plan to show how it would prevent marijuana use by underage patrons. Applicants must also specify strategies and procedures for identifying and responding to the potential over-intoxication of consumers.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-11-16

[ezflip]

The catch: Patrons could use pot as long as it isn't smoked...

 

I admit that I have not touched the stuff for nearly 30 years, and things may have changed since then but, can someone explain how a person can use pot but not smoke it. Are they going to ask the waiter to bake them special brownies?

[impulse]

Wouldn't that be a kick in the nuts?  

 

You can't smoke cigarettes indoors because of the (almost universal nowadays) non-smoking laws.  

 

But you may be able to blow dope, depending on how the rules shake out.  

 

On an aside, I'd love to see the $$$ effect on Denver tourism- though it's already a popular gateway to the ski slopes. 

[williamgeorgeallen]

can mary jane be injected intravenously? seems just applying current smoking laws to smoking cigarettes would do.

[glassdude007]

Oh Wow man......I'm hungry

[JuanCarlos]

I always knew there was something fishy in this town:

Edited November 16, 2016 by JuanCarlos

[connda]

Tourist from the US states who have now legalized pot who indulge in American, fly to Thailand, and are asked to pee in a bottle are going to be in for a big surprise! 

BIB: You pee turn purple.  You do drug.
Tourist: Yes, but marijuana is legal where I live in Denver, Colorado USA!
BIB: You bring drug to Thailand in body.  Big problem for you.  We go to police station.

Tourist:

 

Suggestion to tourists from weed friendly States.  Abstain for at least two weeks before coming to the Land of Smiles (and no-nonsense drug laws). Stick to drinking alcohol at the bars in the Mile High State and elsewhere. 

Edited November 16, 2016 by connda

[bendejo]

In states where it is legal the shops have quite an assortment of edibles, usually in the form of sweets.  These aren't cookies they baked in their kitchens, but rather nicely packaged candy bars with all the requisite food laws in play.  It's a whole new type of commercial product.  In a state where weed is legal I don't see how any establishment would take interest in someone having an edible in their possession.

 

Funny thing that happened in Oregon: by coincidence the beginning of the legal sale of recreational weed happened right around the same time a law went into effect banning smoking (of anything) in public parks.

 

There's smoking and then there's vaping, which has hardly any smell, and doesn't smell like you would expect.  Maybe these places will allow vaping, or only allow patrons to be in possession of a vaporizer while on the premises?

I've seen a few US television programs that show the characters vaping weed in public, and they're always using the same model vaporizer: it looks like a zippo lighter and costs about US$300.  Product placement?

 

 

[amja]

Sounds like Samui back in the mid 80`s

Amja

[Dagnabbit]

4 hours ago, bendejo said:

In states where it is legal the shops have quite an assortment of edibles, usually in the form of sweets.  These aren't cookies they baked in their kitchens, but rather nicely packaged candy bars with all the requisite food laws in play.  It's a whole new type of commercial product.  In a state where weed is legal I don't see how any establishment would take interest in someone having an edible in their possession.

 

 

If I had a restaurant - I would absolutely want everyone to be stoned.

[kamahele]

19 hours ago, ezflip said:

The catch: Patrons could use pot as long as it isn't smoked...

 

I admit that I have not touched the stuff for nearly 30 years, and things may have changed since then but, can someone explain how a person can use pot but not smoke it. Are they going to ask the waiter to bake them special brownies?

Denver pot shops apparently offer some tasty alternatives to enjoying pot  from what I see on the news.

[greenchair]

16 hours ago, connda said:

Tourist from the US states who have now legalized pot who indulge in American, fly to Thailand, and are asked to pee in a bottle are going to be in for a big surprise! 

BIB: You pee turn purple.  You do drug.
Tourist: Yes, but marijuana is legal where I live in Denver, Colorado USA!
BIB: You bring drug to Thailand in body.  Big problem for you.  We go to police station.

Tourist:

 

Suggestion to tourists from weed friendly States.  Abstain for at least two weeks before coming to the Land of Smiles (and no-nonsense drug laws). Stick to drinking alcohol at the bars in the Mile High State and elsewhere. 

 

 

People from all over the world used to come to Thailand for pot and girls and fun. Thailand is trying to change that with a more relaxed and quieter package to offer such as visit the temples and go shopping.

Seems most people will be travelling to colarado for pot ,girls, fun and like you say, don't stop over in Thailand as apparently you can be arrested for having a business or using pot in another country. 

[JuanCarlos]

18 hours ago, connda said:

Tourist from the US states who have now legalized pot who indulge in American, fly to Thailand, and are asked to pee in a bottle are going to be in for a big surprise! 

BIB: You pee turn purple.  You do drug.
Tourist: Yes, but marijuana is legal where I live in Denver, Colorado USA!
BIB: You bring drug to Thailand in body.  Big problem for you.  We go to police station.

Tourist:

 

Suggestion to tourists from weed friendly States.  Abstain for at least two weeks before coming to the Land of Smiles (and no-nonsense drug laws). Stick to drinking alcohol at the bars in the Mile High State and elsewhere. 

Not sure how this would turn out if happening but I have read a couple of years ago that if you can justify you come from a country where pot is legal and you don thave any on you but only positive, you wouldn't be charged...

[Beats56]

Another meaning "Rocky Mountain High"

Been all over Thailand and have seen a pot plant. wonder why?