The Denver City Council unanimously passed the first vote for three bills regarding marijuana regulations Monday, moving the social equity plan for marijuana delivery and hospitality businesses one step closer to fruition.

If approved, the bills will allow marijuana delivery and marijuana hospitality businesses within Denver and provide $350,000 to the Department of Excise and Licenses for the implementation of the new business licenses.

Delivery licenses would only be available to social equity applicants until 2024. Licenses for stores, transporters, cultivations, manufacturing and the new hospitality establishments would be limited to social equity applicants until 2027.

The bills have been moved to final consideration and will have to pass a final full City Council vote next week to be implemented.

Molly Duplechian, policy analyst at the Department of Excise and Licenses, called the bills the “biggest changes that have happened in marijuana regulation since 2014,” when the retail sale of marijuana was legalized in Colorado.

Social equity applicants are defined as Colorado residents who have never had a marijuana license revoked and meet one of the following social equity criteria:

• Applicant lived in an opportunity zone or a disproportionately impacted area between 1980 and 2010
• Applicant or immediate family was arrested, convicted or suffered civil asset forfeiture due to a marijuana offense
• Applicant’s household income didn’t exceed 50% of the state median income

By providing exclusivity to social equity applicants, Denver officials are trying to make up for the damage caused by the War on Drugs and the unequal persecution of disadvantaged communities for marijuana.

“We give (them) a fighting chance to get a real foothold in this industry without being edged out by more established, well-funded competitors,” said Abbey Borchers with the Department Excise and Licenses when presenting the bills.

The social equity applicants would replace the city’s current annual lottery system of distributing marijuana licenses and would also eliminate the cap on stores and cultivations.

However, new marijuana businesses would not be allowed within the top five Denver neighborhoods with the highest number of businesses. As of February, those neighborhoods are Overland, Northeast Park Hill, Baker, Five Points, Valverde and Elyria-Swansea, with the latter four tied for third place.

The bills would maintain current advertising restrictions and location restrictions, but the method for measuring location proximities would be adjusted for some cases.

Current regulations in Denver require marijuana businesses to be at least 1,000 feet away from schools, childcare facilities, city pools, recreation centers, alcohol or drug treatment facilities and other similar license types.

The bills would adjust the measuring method for hospitality businesses for recreation centers, city pools and alcohol or drug treatment facilities. The adjusted method would also apply for stores for alcohol or drug treatment facilities.

This adjustment would increase the land available for new marijuana businesses from 10 square miles to nearly 34 square miles for hospitality businesses.

The lack of availability of land for new marijuana businesses is an issue several council members have brought up while discussing the bills in committee meetings.

“I don’t want to say we’re doing something for social equity applicants … and then, in reality, it’s virtually impossible to open that business because there’s nowhere to do it,” Councilwoman Robin Kniech said during a committee meeting last month.

For the proposed hospitality businesses, patrons could legally consume marijuana on the premises, including options for smoking and vaping. There would be three types of these establishments:

1. Permanent hospitality establishments: Would allow for marijuana consumption within permanent licensed premises. The establishment would not be allowed to provide marijuana; users must bring it to the establishment themselves.
2. Mobile hospitality establishments: Would allow for marijuana consumption within a moving vehicle, like a shuttle or bus. The vehicle would require GPS tracking, a recorded route and would also not be allowed to provide marijuana.
3. Hospitality and sales establishments: would allow marijuana consumption within the premises and be allowed to sell 2 grams of marijuana, a ½-gram of marijuana concentrate and products with 20 milligrams of THC or less. Patrons would not be allowed to bring their own marijuana.

Denver City Council to consider social equity plan for marijuana delivery, hospitality

All hospitality establishments would not be allowed to overlap with premises that have liquor licenses or medical or retail marijuana licenses. However, they could exist within retail food establishments as long as they do not add marijuana to the food.

The establishments would be limited to patrons age 21 and over, could only operate between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. and must adhere to city odor control and ventilation requirements.

The proposed marijuana delivery program would allow people 21 and older to receive deliveries directly to private residences within Denver and other jurisdictions that allow for marijuana delivery. Delivery drivers would be required to check the receiver’s ID using an ID scanner.

The delivery vehicles must have a locked storage compartment secured to the vehicle to store the marijuana. There must be constant video surveillance of the compartment and the front view of the vehicle. 

Deliveries would be available from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. and limited to the same amount of retail product that can be purchased in stores: 1 ounce of marijuana, 8 grams of marijuana concentrate and products with 800 milligrams of THC.

Ashley Kilroy, executive director of Excise and Licensing, said the bills are a result of two years of national, state and community outreach, in addition to workshopping within the Finance and Governance Committee.

Council members did not discuss the bills during Monday’s meeting; however, Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca did request an itemized budget for the $350,000 to be uploaded to a public database before the final vote next week.

One resident called during the public comment session before the meeting in opposition of the bills, arguing against the exclusivity given to social equity applicants.

“We’ve been fighting and fighting for this … We’ve already waited five years for social consumption,” said Nick LoVuolo. “It’s not social equity, this bill. It’s artificial scarcity.”