Denver’s Ridiculous Proposed Weed Restrictions Revised

Denver’s city council recently voted down a proposed weed restrictions that would have made marijuana illegal to carry in parks or the 16th Street Mall.

The smell of marijuana would have been made illegal in the city, punishable with up to a $999 fine and a year in jail, effectively recriminalizing marijuana in Denver.

That proposal was shot down because it obviously went against the will of the voters and the intentions of Amendment 64. A new version of the ordinance has already been drafted and will be introduced Monday.

This new ordinance makes displaying and distributing marijuana civil infractions, punishable by a $100 ticket, in not just parks and the 16th Street Mall but the entire central downtown area. You’ll still be able to carry weed in these places, just not wave it around or hand it out.

Aside from the removal of time in jail and 90% of the fine amount, this version of the ordinance also does not equate the smell of marijuana to the public consumption of marijuana. Smell complaints can still be made to the Department of Environmental Health, who will send inspectors out with a gadget just as ridiculous as the previous version of Denver’s proposed ordinance: The Nasal Ranger.