Activists want to allow use of pot at commercial places nowoff limits

The same activists who in 2012 successfully legalized the cultivation, sale and use of recreationalmarijuana in Colorado have started their next big initiative: the push to allow pot consumption inplaces now off-limits.

Activists want a measure on Denver's November ballot that asks voters to OK allowing marijuanaconsumption in commercial establishments -- including bars and clubs -- that meet certainguidelines.

They hope to get the question approved by the clerk and recorder's office and gather more than4,700 signatures before summer's end.

In order to get the proposal on the November 2015 ballot, Assistant City Attorney David Broadwellsaid the petition would have to be "signed, sealed and delivered" by Sept. 3.

"We're confident that voters will agree that adults should be able to use marijuana socially in privatevenues when around other adults," backer Mason Tvert said prior to a meeting about the measurelate Wednesday afternoon with a Denver assistant city attorney and others.

A ban on consumption in public has inspired public-versus-private debates that have led to the raidsand closures of several cannabis clubs

.

"Denver has been overly restrictive," said fellow activist Brian Vicente. "We believe that'sunconstituional."

Most noteworthy about the proposal by Tvert and Vicente is that it's significantly more liberal andwide-reaching than previous ideas involving cannabis-only clubs floated by state Rep. JonathanSinger, D-Longmont, and others.

"We're proposing a narrow exemption to Denver's current ban on social cannabis use by adults," saidTvert, the Denver-based communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "It would simplyallow adults 21 and older to consume marijuana in designated areas and venues where only adultsare allowed. This is allowing adults to have the option to use marijuana in certain venues that chooseto allow it."

Instead of limiting marijuana use to cannabis clubs that would operate separately from bars servingalcohol -- a model already in place in cities such as Toronto -- this proposal would allow existingbars, clubs and venues to dedicate 21-and-older spaces to indoor vaporizing and outdoor, out-o--public-sight smoking, Tvert said.

The areas allotted for smoking would have to conform to the state ban on indoor smoking.

The activists said many of their proposed regulations would operate with the same regulations

placed upon the consumption of alcohol, such as allowing underaged patrons in a concert venue thatserves liquor under certain regulations.

In a Wednesday meeting with Broadwell, Vicente noted that tourists encounter great difficultiesfinding locations to consume marijuana once they have legally purchased the substance in the state.

"We want to get people off the streets, out of parks to be able to consume marijuana in a designatedspace," Vicente said.

Suggested rules

In the proposal, titled "The Limited Social Marijuana Consumption Initiative," Tvert and Vicente, anattorney, spell out the suggested rules. Denver marijuana czar Ashley Kilroy said the city doesn'tregularly take a position on proposed ordinances but added that the issue of public consumption"has been on our agenda."

"They raise the same types of questions we've been asking about this: Do the people of Denver wantto consume marijuana in a commercial business? What issues would we be solving if we allowed thisin some way? I think those questions have been out there, and we've been engaged in thoseconversations," said Kilroy, Denver's executive director of marijuana policy.

Vicente said Wednesday that their motivation for the proposal rested largely on the fact that "Denverwas being inactive on the issue."

Kilroy said she attends neighborhood meetings and other forums, where she has "heard commentsthat range the entire spectrum."

Another question Kilroy has for the activists: Have they considered the conflicts with state laws?

The questions around state laws are contentious. Some in city government have said Colorado's pot-legalizing Amendment 64 prohibits the public consumption of marijuana, but Tvert and hiscolleagues (who wrote the amendment) disagree.

Amendment 64

"As one of the people who conjured up Amendment 64 and was considered one of the two primarysponsors, I can attest to the fact that they're wrong," Tvert said. "Amendment 64 intentionally didnot prohibit private businesses from allowing adults to responsibly consume marijuana on thepremises. I don't know where they would get that. (Amendment 64) said it would be illegal toconsume openly and publicly, but it's not open or public if it's in a private business."

Kilroy wasn't prepared to comment on that point Wednesday.

"All of that gets into a lot of legal analysis, and I'm not ready to comment," she said. "But there isthat issue: If it is a private, commercial business that is open to the public, is it considered private?"

Kilroy deflected the question to Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell, who also had no commenton the issue of Amendment 64 prohibiting the public consumption of cannabis.

"They think there's a need to do it, right? All we're doing is making a technical review of theirproposal," he said.

Broadwell said he does wonder why proponents decided to word their proposal so broadly, ratherthan just allowing private cannabis clubs.

Tvert said the broad nature of the proposal is intentional.

"It's really irrational to allow adults to consume this product but prohibit them from using it inprivate places that would allow it -- especially with tourists," Tvert said. "We allow adults topurchase limited amounts of marijuana, and they should be allowed to have a place where they canconsume it legally."

Denver Post Staff Writer Elizabeth Hernandez contributed to this report

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28333238/activists-want-allow-use-pot-at-commercial-places?source=rss