Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jul 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ricardo Baca

POT PROPOSAL HAS BACKERS, FOES

A Poll Shows Support for Consumption in Public Places, but Not All 
Businesses Concur.

The proposed initiative that would allow Denver entrepreneurs to open 
their 21-and-up business and patio spaces to limited marijuana 
consumption has divided many in the city - and it's not even clear 
yet if the question will land on the city's November ballot.

While a new poll commissioned by the activists behind the measure 
shows voters supporting the initiative, many of the businesses that 
would decide to either allow cannabis consumption, or not, are 
vehemently against the proposal.

"We will be adamantly opposed to it," said Sonia Riggs, CEO of the 
Colorado Restaurant Association, an industry group that works with 
4,500 businesses, or about half of the state's restaurants.

"My company is against it," said Leigh Jones, co-owner of Denver bars 
the Horseshoe Lounge, the Bar Car, Inga's Alpine Lounge and the new 
Nip & Sip Neighborhood Lounge.

"I would be against it," said Noel Hickey, owner of the Celtic Tavern 
and Delaney's Cigar Bar in LoDo, the latter of which is one of the 
few Denver bars still licensed for indoor smoking under the Colorado 
Clean Indoor Air Act, "and I wouldn't allow it in any of my bars."

"I would think anyone who owns a nightclub or bar that sells alcohol 
would be against this," said hospitality pro Lannie Garrett, owner of 
Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret.

But not everyone running bars, art galleries, restaurants, movie 
theaters and other venues in Denver is against the measure.

For those who oppose the initiative, the two most common reasons are 
capitalism (stoned patrons drink less alcohol, and the bar makes less 
money) and liability (who's responsible if a customer leaves a venue 
and gets in an accident?).

But the measure's co-author said he doesn't expect liability to be an issue.

"I'm not aware of any increased liability other than their perception 
of increased liability, and once again, they don't have to allow it," 
said the Marijuana Policy Project's Mason Tvert, who, with Colorado 
attorney Brian Vicente, started the Denver Campaign for Limited 
Social Cannabis Use. "A business being opposed for this reason is 
like a man being opposed to gay marriage because he doesn't want to 
marry another man. They're not required to do this. It's simply 
allowing those who do want the right to have it."

Tvert and Vicente, the primary authors of pot-legalizing Amendment 
64, are proposing a social use measure that is more liberal than the 
cannabis-only clubs that have been briefly discussed by some Colorado 
politicians. If it passes, it will look like this, organizers say:

With the business owners' permission, customers at bars, galleries 
and other businesses would be allowed to eat pot-infused edibles or 
vaporize inside those commercial establishments' 21-and-older areas 
and smoke pot in their age-restricted outdoor areas, like rooftop 
patios, that are at least 25 feet from public spaces such as streets 
and sidewalks. No cannabis would be sold at these businesses - those 
sales would remain at licensed pot shops.

Ingesting marijuana in any form is illegal in most places outside of 
private residences in Denver, where multiple cannabis clubs have been 
shuttered by police. Other municipalities, including Colorado 
Springs, Nederland and unincorporated Adams County, are experimenting 
with cannabis clubs.

The activists currently are gathering the needed signatures to get 
the consumption question on the November ballot. While most business 
groups and civic entities have yet to develop a position on the 
initiative - including the city of Denver, tourism group Visit 
Denver, the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Colorado Hotel and 
Lodging Association - a growing number of hospitality industry vets 
are in the activists' corner.

"As a business owner, you should be able to do whatever you want to 
behind your walls," said Justin Brunson, chef-owner at Old Major, 
Masterpiece Deli and the soon-to-open Honor Society. "We pay a lot of 
taxes to be in business, and if we wanted to allow something that is 
legal within our four walls, we should be able to do what we want to."

Hapa Sushi and Motomaki owner Mark Van Grack similarly supports the 
initiative but said his restaurants aren't the right space for 
consumption of any kind.

"There's definitely a need for public consumption of some kind. ... 
Weed needs to be, and eventually will be, treated as alcohol from a 
standpoint of sale and consumption," Van Grack said. "We would not 
consider it for our current operations, but if the time was right 
where we could do a concept around edibles, we may consider it."

Chef Tom Coohill of fine dining outpost Coohills supports the measure 
and would welcome the consumption of cannabis-infused edibles (but no 
vaping) in his swanky dining room.

"I don't think pot is a very aggressive drug," Coohill said. "It's 
less aggressive than alcohol. I don't see why it shouldn't be 
allowed. Who cares if someone does an edible in a restaurant? To me, 
eating an edible is the same thing as drinking a beer. It's just like 
drinking."

Entrepreneur Wanda James owns Jezebel's Southern Bistro and Bar in 
LoHi - and she's also president of the Cannabis Global Initiative and 
owner of a yet-to-be-opened pot shop. She and her husband/business 
partner Scott Durrah support the consumption initiative and would 
incorporate it into their business at Jezebel's, she said.

"People were terrified and paranoid about Amendment 64 passing," 
James said. "Well, the unspeakable happened: We have more college 
kids coming here and are drawing more conventions and businesses who 
want to be here in Denver. ... We're setting tourism records and, 
despite what Visit Denver says, everyone knows what caused the spike 
in tourism in 2014. Denver became hip.

"But then they get here and they buy their legal cannabis and they 
have nowhere to go use it."

But Colorado restaurant consultant John Imbergamo said he understands 
why on-site cannabis consumption makes for such a complex issue: "It 
adds a level of complexity to running a restaurant that is already 
complex enough. If you add the marijuana high to the alcohol high 
that's already going on, you double down on potentially difficult behavior."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom