It’s been an on-again, off-again sort of relationship this year with Colorado and cannabis activists seeking somewhere to legally smoke outside their homes. After all, the state is bringing in tourists like crazy – especially this time of year – and they have practically nowhere to smoke or vape once they purchase their first legal bag!
Some people have offered up extra rooms or seasonal rentals or vacation rentals on the web for rent as a refuge for those tourists who are excitedly waiting to be able to light up. This would still make a good entrepreneurial model for people to take – but what about people that are thinking in a bit of a different direction?
What about the possibility of having smoking cannabis being as openly accepted as drinking a beer, a glass of wine or a shot of booze? Well at the beginning of this year there was a large number of activists who wanted to bring this change around, creating the Social Use of Cannabis Initiative to life.
After getting much publicity early in the year this initiative decided to take a hiatus in hopes that the issue could be resolved without turning to a vote. Local governments had agreed to come up with terms to allow limited use of cannabis in bars and clubs in designated areas – but there are still a few potential problems with this.
The biggest problem for this initiative being that alcohol cannot be served anywhere that marijuana is offered – and they cannot be on the same property. So rather than simply adding the ability to smoke anywhere you can drink there is talk of building cannabis-based clubs.
Well, the governments had agreed there would be movement happening on the subject soon – and it’s now been a couple months of silence. To this the activists leading Colorado’s Social Use Initiative will likely be taking action to revive their ballot initiative in the early spring of 2016.
There is one “cannabis club” that is currently operating in a lesser known town in Colorado – Nederland. Here you can find Club Ned – the first “Bring Your Own Buds Club” in all of Colorado. And they are legal after making arrangements with their local government, which makes this place just that much cooler.
Club Ned offers candy like Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups and Twix as well as beverages for only $1 including coffee, tea and hot chocolate. They also charge a $10 single day entrance fee – or if you’re a local and plan on spending a lot of time there you can become a monthly member as well.
At Club Ned they never considered selling alcohol – realizing that a lot of people who smoke actually prefer not to drink. It’s a whole different culture and this is one of the first “smoke lounges” in the U.S. to really make that point.
