Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jul 2015
Source: Sun, The (Yuma, AZ)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.yumasun.com/sections/opinion/submit-letters/
Website: http://www.yumasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1258

DENVER CAMPAIGN WOULD ALLOW MARIJUANA USE IN BARS

DENVER (AP) - Beer? Wine? Or weed?

A campaign is underway to ask Denver voters about allowing marijuana 
consumption in bars and other places that only allow people over 21.

Activists who campaigned for recreational pot legalization in 
Colorado have launched a petition drive to allow what they call 
"limited social marijuana consumption" at bars.

The activists need about 5,000 signatures to get the question on 
November ballots.

It would allow bars or clubs to allow marijuana use as long as 
patrons bring their own weed and comply with clean-air laws. That 
means the pot they consume would have to be edible, or if smoked, 
consumed on an outside patio the way cigarette smoking is regulated 
now. Outdoor smoking sites would have to be shielded from public view.

"Marijuana's now a legal product for adults in Denver, and it's 
really time that we give adults a place to use it legally and 
socially," said Mason Tvert, who ran Colorado's 2012 campaign to 
legalize recreational pot. "We shouldn't be requiring that you sit at 
home if you choose to use marijuana as an adult."

Colorado law prohibits recreational pot consumption "openly and 
publicly or in a manner that endangers others." It does not, however, 
bar against consumption in private over-21 clubs. The Denver measure 
would clarify what counts as a private club.

Marijuana dispensaries are banned from allowing on-site use of the 
products they sell, and from selling alcohol or food that doesn't 
contain pot. The Denver proposal would allow only bring-your-own consumption.

Denver wouldn't be the first city to allow marijuana in bars. Pueblo 
and Nederland have city statutes allowing limited on-site consumption 
at over-21 clubs.

And Colorado Springs, the state's second-largest city, has several 
marijuana clubs that are tolerated if not specifically allowed by statute.

The Denver petition comes after the City Council rejected 
pot-friendly bars. Denver has several underground clubs where patrons 
use marijuana for a joining fee, but the city has intermittently 
arrested people for public consumption at those clubs. The raids and 
arrests leave tourists with nowhere to legally consume pot they've 
bought, argued supporters of the ballot measure.
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