{"id":7279,"date":"2017-03-10T00:21:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T00:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2564139"},"modified":"2017-03-10T00:21:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T00:21:47","slug":"midnight-closing-time-for-denver-marijuana-shops-new-council-proposal-floats-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/midnight-closing-time-for-denver-marijuana-shops-new-council-proposal-floats-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight closing time for Denver marijuana shops? New council proposal floats idea"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/midnight-closing-time-for-denver-marijuana-shops-new-council-proposal-floats-idea\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Denver may be ready to match some neighboring cities\u2019 late-night\u00a0closing times for marijuana stores.<\/p>\n<p>A first-stab proposal set to be considered\u00a0in a City Council committee Monday would extend the cutoff\u00a0for sales from\u00a07 p.m. to\u00a0midnight. That\u2019s the latest closing time that both Edgewater and Glendale allow for their pot\u00a0shops.<\/p>\n<p>Councilwoman Kendra Black says she is optimistic about the measure\u2019s chances to get to the council floor, but it\u2019s possible the members\u00a0will settle on an earlier closing time. She chairs the marijuana special-issue committee that is set to consider her proposal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do have support for extending the hours, and we have some who are in favor of 12 a.m.,\u201d Black said. \u201cI have others who are in favor of a time earlier than 12. \u2026 If\u00a0we end up at an earlier time, then so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Aurora and Commerce City\u00a0are among cities that cut off sales at 10 p.m. State law sets the bounds for business hours at 8 a.m. to midnight, allowing cities and counties that permit marijuana sales to set more restrictive hours.<\/p>\n<p>With\u00a0216 storefronts selling recreational or medical marijuana or both, Denver is the state\u2019s largest market. The city accounted for 38 percent of legal marijuana sales in Colorado last year, though its share has declined as stores have opened in other cities and counties.<\/p>\n<p>Dispensary owners\u00a0long have argued that Denver\u2019s\u00a0earlier sales cutoff puts them at a competitive disadvantage in the metro area.<\/p>\n<p>The council first reopened the store hours issue Jan. 9, when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/01\/11\/denver-evening-pot-shop-hours\/\">store owners and industry representatives pressed their case<\/a>. They cited the likelihood of business lost across city lines\u00a0and the inconvenience for customers who can\u2019t\u00a0easily get to a store by 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur hope is that we can get to midnight, because that would make it a level playing field with many of the other businesses that we coexist with,\u201d said Kristi Kelly, the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group.<\/p>\n<p>But the idea has faced push-back from Smart Colorado,\u00a0a group that advocates for protections from marijuana for children. And some neighborhood advocates\u00a0have raised safety concerns, which Kelly says she hopes to rebut Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Black says Monday\u2019s hearing will include\u00a0a city attorney\u2019s overview of past discussions about store hours, a presentation by Kelly\u2019s group\u00a0and a chance for public testimony.\u00a0The meeting is set to start at 3 p.m. in\u00a0the council\u2019s third-floor committee room in the City and County Building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope to move it out of committee. It might happen, and it might not happen,\u201d Black said, if her colleagues decide the issue needs more discussion.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Colorado\u2019s combined legal retail and medical marijuana sales eclipsed $1.3 billion, with slightly more than $500 million of that in Denver.<\/p>\n<p>Those sales generated $28.3 million in city sales tax proceeds, up 25 percent over 2015. The city also received $4.4 million from a share-back of the state\u2019s 10 percent special retail marijuana tax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Denver could take a big step toward matching neighboring cities&#8217; late-night marijuana store closing times next week when the City Council considers a first-stab proposal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,6811,7001,1547,6885,6813,77,5577,6815,9,5019,6845,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5063,6816,7002,4115,6888,6818,2655,5580,6820,5022,6846],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}