{"id":8638,"date":"2019-02-26T01:44:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3362875"},"modified":"2019-02-26T01:44:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:44:04","slug":"denver-just-made-a-big-change-on-social-use-cannabis-it-will-be-permanent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-just-made-a-big-change-on-social-use-cannabis-it-will-be-permanent\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver just made a big change on social-use cannabis: It will be permanent"},"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\/denver-just-made-a-big-change-on-social-use-cannabis-it-will-be-permanent\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/denver-just-made-a-big-change-on-social-use-cannabis-it-will-be-permanent.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>One of the clouds over Denver\u2019s marijuana hospitality businesses is about to go away.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday night, the Denver City Council decided in a 10-1 vote that the city should permanently allow \u201csocial\u201d cannabis use at certain businesses in the city. Until now, the city\u2019s social-use laws were scheduled to expire at the end of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The change is meant to give some stability to businesses where people can vaporize or eat marijuana legally.<\/p>\n<p>The social-use law approved by voters in 2016 included a four-year \u201csunset\u201d date. But the industry has been slow to develop since then. So far, only two businesses have won a social-use license: a coffee shop in a strip mall and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/01\/30\/denver-marijuana-social-consumption-vape-play\/\">a new lounge on Broadway<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The time limit has discouraged some business owners, according to Councilwoman Kendra Black.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith less than two years available, it\u2019s difficult to get financing. If you\u2019re leasing a space, most leases, they\u2019re three to five years. And then you\u2019d have to get funds to build out the space,\u201d she said at an earlier meeting. \u201cAnd so it\u2019s just really not feasible for a prospective business to open a business in that time frame.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councilman Kevin Flynn wasn\u2019t convinced. He said that the city should take on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/08\/18\/denver-social-marijuana-use-program-struggling\/\">business owners\u2019 other complaints first<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that we ought to have a more comprehensive package of changes that could address the problems that we\u2019re looking to solve,\u201d Flynn said at the earlier meeting<\/p>\n<p>Councilman Rafael Espinoza agreed that it was too early, with the program still struggling, to end the sunset. The bill passed with Flynn opposing; Espinoza and Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore were absent.<\/p>\n<p>City officials also are examining the city\u2019s distance requirements. Social-use businesses must be at least 1,000 feet from schools, day care centers, city recreation centers and pools, and addiction treatment centers.<\/p>\n<p>Council members are considering further changes to loosen those distance restrictions. Meanwhile, state legislators could tackle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/12\/06\/colorado-marijuana-delivery-laws\/\">an agenda of cannabis changes<\/a>, including a potential bill for use at businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>One of the clouds over Denver&#8217;s marijuana hospitality businesses is about to go away. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[514,52,6811,7001,6885,8084,6813,77,5667,9,5019,8085,8082,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[3088,2632,6816,7002,6888,8086,6818,2655,5673,5022,8087,8083],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638"}],"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=8638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}