As our organisation slogan says “There’s more to cannabis than just availability” and that is something that really applies to those who are still dreaming of the perfect situation in Denver, Colorado. They are famed for being the most advanced legal recreational states in the US but short of being able to buy it in a shop or own a legal business if you can meet all the requirements there’s still something fundementally important about cannabis consumption that is missing. Social consumption.
There aren’t any legal clubs or weed bars that you can go to, although some have tried and been shut down and ended up in court. That’s right, despite the legal framework seeming like it’s so much more relaxed out in Colorado and those other legalising states, the laws that have been written are being taken seriously and legalisation does not mean it is a free for all and anything goes.
Very recently Colorado residents have been able to vote on allowing cannabis to be consumed legally in which the vote on I-300 in which it was successful.
Businesses owners would have to require customers to sign waivers as they enter, follow a ventilation plan if they allow vaping devices indoors and seek a temporary suspension of their liquor license if they have one.
The voter-passed law directed the city to put in place a four-year pilot program that allows some businesses to seek annual permits to create areas where customers can consume their own cannabis. That’s as long as a business gets backing from a local neighborhood or business association.
The new law also allows one-time events to seek permits.
Tim Martin, host of the John Doe Radio Show has been a vocal proponent of cannabis laws being reformed, from campaigning and protesting in order to help his state gain access to medical marijuana pushing incremental changes in laws that were needed over 13 years where iti eventually lead to becoming fully legal. Even though the biggest battle seems to have been won there are still many issues that need to be addressed to enable consumers to live in a society that has a well thought out and fair cannabis policy – activism shouldn’t just stop because access is now pretty much taken care of. And there are new fights that we didn’t consider being an issue on the journey to get here.
It’s one thing to watch cannabis become mainstream and its use less stigmatized. It’s enjoyable, rewarding, and promising to see the movement forward.
But what is discouraging to see among all of it is seemingly – the shedding of our independence and allowance given all while bending at the knees too far for the other side’s benefit. I do not enjoy seeing people who never smoke lead our community and sell out our rights. I do not enjoy seeing social use dragged through the mud and made to be worse than abusing alcohol.
The delay on implementing proper “social use” is uncalled for and insulting. The Denver 420 rally still serves a purpose of Civil Disobedience and using cannabis in public. This problem with no place to go-and-hang should have been fixed years ago and it is starting to anchor steps backward for other issues.
I hate seeing people and ideas become disenfranchised because rules and regulations dragged them over the edge. I think we can do better. I think we can come together again and continue this responsible change which has been long overdue. Until cannabis is socially acceptable across the Nation and our culture is preserved, we have no right to abandon the cause and our lifestyle. The mainstream of cannabis does not have to mean sacrificing your way. Remember that.
Keep your voice loud. Stay together. Stay grass roots.
Tim Martin, John Doe Radio.
Tim absolutely smashes home this point about the environment of cannabis legalisation and regulation writing STILL going on in Colorado.
UK Cannabis reformers and activists should take note. We need to secure the things we want to see in the future of British Cannabis because otherwise people who do not come from our culture and background will come along and sell out our rights for us (this is already happening in the UK and no one has listened or done much to alter or speed up their strategies for overall progress).
Sometimes it begs to wonder, what it is going to take to make people realise that it is possible to miss the boat?
We are on the cusp of being in a similar social situation historically as they were in a number of states 6 years ago, like Denver, Colorado mentioned above. There is much we need to start doing that we are not currently, roles being fulfilled and played out that are not and people putting down their differences and working with people they are not or have not been able to previously.
We at the UK Cannabis Socia Clubs have taken on the issue of social use early on over here, but they still don’t have the right to socially consume in Colorado…They can grow at home legally, but even recently plant numbers were dropped! We too need to back our right to grow more and push that ideology out there physically and not just as a concept. The Tagged Plant Model helps us in this.
Start thinking bigger people, we are not going to like what is coming if we aren’t prepared! There will be bigger battles yet to come than we’ve seen before. That is for sure.
Find your local Cannabis Social Club.
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