That may soon change in Denver.

Back in November, Denver became the first city in the country to allow people to use marijuana at certain restaurants and other venues that want to allow it. That was Proposition 300, and it was approved at the same time eight other states – including California – passed laws to legalize marijuana for either recreational or medicinal purposes. The city measure allows bars and restaurants to apply to allow marijuana to be used by their patrons – so long as the drug isn’t smoked, although there could be some cases in which outside smoking areas could be designated.

Now, the city is working on implementing that provision, and it appears it will extend to places like yoga studios, art galleries and coffee shops. The law doesn’t offer up any guidelines for how marijuana can be consumed other than it can’t be smoked indoors and patrons have to be at least 21-years-old. Additionally, the state’s liquor control board has forbidden any company that has a liquor license from allowing patrons to use marijuana. That means bars would be excluded, as would restaurants that serve alcohol. WYFF4 reported a group of stakeholders – marijuana business owners, city regulators and opponents of legalized marijuana – are all meeting to begin hammering out suggestions of what this new law is going to look like.

There isn’t any deadline for when this new provision has to be implemented.

Proponents of the measure say it’s an important victory not just because it grants people the opportunity to use the drug socially, but because it carves out a respite for those who may have other restrictions and can’t use the drug at their residence. For example, many landlord policies prohibit smoking on their properties. Additionally, marijuana use and possession may be very problematic for those living in public housing. Because the drug is still illegal under federal law, users on those sites could risk jeopardizing their housing.

The only other state that allows any form of public consumption of marijuana is Alaska. But even there, public use of marijuana is limited to cannabis dispensaries.

Meanwhile in California, Proposition 64 gave California’s the right to possess and grow marijuana immediately, but users don’t have the right to light up wherever they please. The ballot measure specifically forbid smoking marijuana in public places – unless it is allowed by local ordinance. So far, no California cities have moved to open that door. On top of that, marijuana can’t be smoked in a place where smoking tobacco is already outlawed. That means no smoking in theaters or restaurants. Additionally, smoking marijuana within 1,000 feet of a daycare or school or youth center while kids are present.

Additionally, there are fines that can be imposed for smoking marijuana while operating a motor vehicle, aircraft or boat.

People who are caught smoking marijuana in public can expect to pay up to $100. If it’s done in a place where tobacco use is outlawed or near a school, the fine increases to $250. If there are minors caught in violation, they face up to four hours of drug education courses, plus 10 hours of community service.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Denver starts work on allowing marijuana in public, a first in US, Jan. 18, 2017, WYFF-4

More Blog Entries:

Prohibiting Teen Access to Marijuana a Top Priority for Politicians, Pot Distributors, Jan. 20, 2017, Riverside Marijuana Lawyer Blog

This measure will make Denver the first in the nation to allow bars and restaurants the option of offering patrons the chance to use marijuana while they’re drinking a cocktail or enjoying a meal. However, there is a big catch: Patrons will not be allowed to imbibe indoors. Only outdoor smoking will be allowed, and even then, businesses will have to first get the green light from their neighbors. Patrons could still use cannabis or derivative products inside the establishment, but only if it wasn’t smoked.

The measure is just one of an increasing number of indications that our society’s tolerance of the drug is growing. Supporters are calling the move “sensible,” and an effort to allow adults to enjoy – but responsibly.

As our marijuana business plan attorneys know, the first thing interested businesses would need to do would be to show that they have some degree of support for the initiative in their neighborhood. Further, establishments that sell food and drinks are not allowed to also sell marijuana, per Colorado law. The law does allow non-service establishments (i..e., art galleries, yoga studios, etc.) to set up areas that can be used as smoking areas or to host events that serve food, drinks and marijuana.

This kind of “social marijuana” statute is rare because there is hesitation about allowing the drug to be consumed in public. Generally just as alcohol is not allowed to be openly carried and consumed in public areas, neither is marijuana. (Colorado law doesn’t specifically allow or ban marijuana use in public, but individual communities have a patchwork of their own regulations, so it really depends where you are.) But in some communities, this was getting hard to enforce.

Part of the goal, according to the spokesman Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project, was to cut down on the growing problem of people who were smoking weed on the sidewalks and the in the parks. The issue is people have nowhere to go to consume it besides home, and that is proving unworkable in many communities. It’s something California will need to consider now that we too have allowed recreational marijuana.

Still, the system being proposed for marijuana consumption is still more restrictive than what we have in place for alcohol. Bar patrons don’t have to bring their own booze, nor do they have to drink it outside. It’s unclear at this point how many establishments plan to jump on the opportunity, or how long it would take them to get through the inevitable red tape. It’s probably going to be at least several months before we start to see any pot-and-coffee shops opening up.

From there, it’s unclear how it will be received. The law is slated to sunset in 2020, unless city officials decide to renew the licenses or put the question to voters of whether to keep it permanently.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Denver Voters Approve Marijuana Use in Bars. But There’s a Catch, Nov. 16, 2016, Associated Press

More Blog Entries:

Economy of Cannabis: Buying vs. Growing, Nov. 14, 2016, Denver Marijuana Lawyer Blog

As of right now, there are no regulations in Colorado that limit the amount of THC there can be in the drug’s plant form or in edibles. There was proposed amendment on the table, filed by state lawmakers, that would cap the amount of allowable THC in any given marijuana product to 16 percent. According to one state study, the average potency for marijuana products in Colorado is more than 17 percent for cannabis flowers and 62 percent for marijuana extracts.

Supporters of these potency limits say more research needs to be conducted in order to determine what is a “safe” level of the drug, as the health impacts of consuming high concentrations of the drug are largely unknown. However, opponents say the 17 percent figure is arbitrary, and perhaps even “unconstitutional.” The proposal failed to garner enough support to pass this most recent session, though it is certainly not considered a dead issue, by any means.

Colorado being the first state to legalize the drug for recreational purposes, it makes sense that it would be the first state to grapple with this issue of potency. Those who are familiar with the marijuana business industry say that if there were to be a government limit on potency, it would likely result in a boost to the black market. People would seek the stronger strands from illegitimate growers or else cultivate them personally.

Some of the recent state-licensed testing facility measures show cannabis flowers with a THC content of as high as 32 percent. Meanwhile, in most other states where the drug remains illegal, the plants are cultivated with low-grade potency that is usually only in the single digits.

Still, nationally the average THC content discovered in confiscated marijuana has been climbing sharply in recent years. Back in the 1990s, the average THC content in marijuana seized by law enforcement officials as 3.7 percent. That’s according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. By 2013, the national average was at 9.6 percent. A separate analysis conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration revealed that from 1995 to 2014, the potency of marijuana seized by the federal government rose from 4 percent to 12 percent. Both of these figures still are much lower than what testing facilities are discovering in Colorado and the handful of other states where the drug is now sold for recreational purposes.

Our marijuana attorneys understand the potency of these strains strike users who are inexperienced especially hard. Illustrating this is the fact that emergency room visits for marijuana-related ailments spiked 44 percent from 2012 to 2014, from 70 to 101. Of course, those visits weren’t solely due to high potency, but it’s certainly part of the issue.

On the one hand, there is a demand for higher potency marijuana, particularly among those who are very sick and may have used the drug for a long time. These individuals need higher concentrations of THC in order for the drug to still be effective, as they’ve built up a tolerance. But on the flip side, there are those who prefer strains with higher concentrations of CBD, a non-psychoactive element of the drug that helps to treat conditions like epilepsy.

In the end, it’s all about growing marijuana that is safe, effective and meets a variety of personal needs.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Colorado marijuana’s potency getting ‘higher’, Oct. 21, 2016, By Ana Cabrera, CNN

More Blog Entries:

Federal Prosecutors Dropping Charges Against Teen for 1 Gram of Marijuana, Sept. 1, 2016, Denver Marijuana Lawyer Blog

As a form of child medicine, marijuana has been even more controversial. Parents who sought relief for their children’s seizure disorders or chronic pain or nausea/ lack of appetite due to cancer were sometimes accused of child abuse. Some were forced to move out-of-state to obtain the treatment their kids so desperately needed.

Yet even in states where leaders have been forward-thinking on the issue, there have been hurdles to overcome. In Colorado, school officials had refused to dose medical marijuana to young patients on school grounds – even if those children had a prescription.

But now, state legislators in that state have approved a measure that would allow parents to provide medical marijuana treatment to their children on school grounds. House Bill 1373 now awaits the governor’s pen, at which time it will become law.

The law requires schools to give parents permission to provide their children with their marijuana medication on campus, though it stipulates that schools can write policies that limit where on campus the medication could be given.

Supporters of the measure say it should not have come to this, especially after last year’s passage of a bill that allowed schools to create policies that allowed student use of medicinal marijuana. It removed the threat of criminal or legal action against the school. And yet, not a single school moved to create the policy.

Leaders at the 178 school districts in the state said they were concerned they would lose federal funding, as medical marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.

But in the meantime, children who were very sick or suffered from severe disabilities were suffering. They had been prescribed these medications by a doctor for treatment of serious and chronic conditions, and the schools simply refused to let them have it. Parents were forced to disrupt not only their day but their child’s day by taking them off campus to distribute their medicine and then bring them back – a process some said could take a half hour to 45 minutes – not including drive time to and from.

The law passed last year was named, “Jack’s Law,” after a 15-year-old boy who suffers spastic quadriplegia, dystonia and cerebral palsy. This latest update to it has been referred to as “Jack’s Amendment.”

The boy’s mother lamented that her son and children who suffer similar conditions – who need their medication to get through their day and learn – had to wait for the slow bureaucracy of government to act on this issue. Still, she is thankful there may now be actual progress. She pleaded with educators and administrators to show understanding and compassion throughout this process.

Gov. John Hickenlooper is expected to sign the bill.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Medical marijuana for kids at Colorado school wins committee Ok, April 12, 2016, By John Ingold, The Denver Post

More Blog Entries:

State Department: NIDA Needn’t Be Only U.S. Marijuana Research Grower, May 8, 2016, L.A. Marijuana Attorney Blog