Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jan 2013
Source: Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.dailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Brittany Anas

'CANNABIS-FRIENDLY' COFFEE AND TEA SHOP OPENS IN LAFAYETTE

Front Tea & Art Shop Becomes Hive CO-Op  At Night

LAFAYETTE -- By day, The Front Tea & Art Shop sells papier-mache piggy
banks, handmade flutes and elaborate carvings alongside tea leaves and
hemp coffee.

By night, the eclectic cottage at the corner of S. Public Road and
Cleveland Street becomes the Hive Co-Op, billed as Colorado's first
cannabis-friendly coffee and tea shop, where customers can gather to
smoke pot or use vaporizers.

The co-op is BYOC: bring your own cannabis. There's a 1-ounce limit,
$5 cover charge and 21-years-of-age requirement with a valid ID. Oh,
and a point of decorum -- former Lafayette dispensary owner Veronica
Carpio, who runs the place, prefers the word "cannabis" over
"marijuana."

Carpio said she informally started the co-op after Gov. John
Hickenlooper signed Amendment 64 into law, which legalized
recreational use of marijuana. She wants the co-op to be a
neighborhood gathering spot where people can unwind, have a cup of
coffee, smoke a joint and feel surrounded by good, healing energy, she
said.

"I was born on 4/20, so cannabis is kind of part of my destiny," said
Carpio, 34.

Admittedly, that destiny has been a rough one at times, as Carpio is
on probation for a marijuana possession charge following the closure
of her dispensary.

Carpio closed her dispensary -- 420 Highway at 201 E. Simpson St. in
Lafayette -- in July 2011. Five months later, she was arrested on
felony drug distribution charges, accused of selling 10 pounds of
marijuana to a confidential informant who planned to take it out of
state.

In September, she agreed to a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty
to felony marijuana possession in exchange for the dismissal of more
serious distribution charges. She was sentenced to 12 months of
probation and 48 hours of community service.

Carpio's new co-op venture seems to be well within the law, according
to local law-enforcement officials.

"They do not appear to be violating any laws," said Lafayette police
Cmdr. Gene 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D