Reader: Time to Light Up Colorado Lawmakers for Public Pot Consumption

Another 4/20 has come and gone, and while Colorado was the first state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana, it still has not made provisions for social consumption.

While another bill that would create locations for public pot use is now in the Colorado Legislature and Denver considers proposes changes to its program that would make it more attractive to would-be potrepreneurs, consumers are getting impatient.

Says Jay:

When voters approved Amendment 64 in November 2012, they thought they were voting to treat cannabis like alcohol. But almost seven years later, I can go have a drink almost anywhere. But consume cannabis? Nada.

Time to light up Colorado lawmakers for social consumption.

Adds Clint: 

I don’t mind so much that there is no place where you can toke and drink at same place, but it is absolutely ridiculous that one can’t open a place where you can toke and eat!

Responds Peter: 

It’s bad enough I have to put up with people’s kids when I go out to have a drink, let alone their marijuana habit.

Leon replies : 

Yep, you can definitely drink at home and you should.

Suggests Scott: 

Time to give up drinking completely folks and stick with just cannabis.

Notes Sara:

I know this great place in Amsterdam.

And Ryan concludes:

It’s fucking pot, people. Get over it. And saying people need to stop drinking is ridiculous, too. Just do what you do and don’t worry about everyone else.

Keep reading for more on social consumption in Colorado:

“Toking About Town Responsibly With a Cannabis Tour Guide”

“Will This Be Our Last 4/20 Without Real Social Consumption?”

A bill that would legalize social pot consumption businesses in the state passed through the Colorado House on Thursday, April 18, and has moved on to the Senate, where the bill’s advocates are even more confident of its chances. Governor Jared Polis has indicated in the past that he’d support such a measure, in stark contrast to former Governor John Hickenlooper, who vetoed a bill that would’ve legalized dispensary tasting rooms in 2018.

This new bill could be an even larger win for cannabis users, though, permitting hotels, music venues, yoga studios and any 21-and-up business to allow pot consumption, and that includes smoking. It could even give these businesses the chance to sell small amounts of cannabis, doing away with the bring-your-own models under which private events and lounges currently operate.

The bill would also allow municipalities to modify the rules, which means that Denver could go ahead with modifying its own program.

What do you think of Colorado’s inability to come up with a social consumption program? Post a comment or email marijuana@westword.com.