Legal Weed Allowed in Denver Bars and Restaurants Boosts City’s Tourism

Denver, US most pot-friendly city has passed Prop 300, an initiative that will allow businesses such as bars and restaurants to become marijuana consumption areas. This bill is first of its kind and it will permit people, residents and tourists, to smoke inside restaurants, bars, coffee shops and yoga centers.

Fortune reports that this voter-approved law will be granted to willing establishments but there is a catch. Businesses should first get the support of neighbors to get a license along with a long list of rules that should be in strictly enforced.

Customers who would like to smoke weed would have to bring their own supply. It is not allowed to sell marijuana and food or drink in a single establishment. Patrons are allowed to smoke pot inside participating establishments as long as their weed is not smoked. Prop 300 also allow outside smoking of weed but under tight restriction. The law also allows art galleries and yoga studios to have their own pot smoking areas or to hold events which offer food and drink along with weed.

Meanwhile, Business Insider reports that no other industry is more excited than Denver's pot-focused hospitality industry that plans to operate exclusive facilities for smokers. Groups are planning to set up dispensaries, lodging and even tours and classes for people who are from out of town. 

The report mentioned that recreational marijuana use has been legal since 2012 in the state. Public use of pot has been banned until Prop 300 was approved.

Prop 300 was approved on the same day California and two more states legalized marijuana use for all adults. Still, five more states now allow the use of pot as medical treatment for a list of illnesses. These are signs that more and more people have become educated in the benefits of the drug.

Prop 300 takes effect immediately and will end in 2020 unless the city renews the licenses of businesses that offer weed or if voters makes recreational weed use permanent.