Sorry Denverites, You Can’t Smoke Weed on the Patio

No smoking weed…

So, here is an interesting experience I had recently… after playing a gig at a bar with my funk band here in Denver, Colorado, I stepped out onto the patio with some friends and band mates to enjoy some post-show herb.

Being that it’s 2013 and I live in Denver, I figured that it’d be no problem to light up and pass it ‘round, even though we were less than a block off of Colfax (a main drag here in Denver and, coincidentally enough, the name sake of band I play in). However, I was very surprised when the doorman came up to me and very sternly told me to put out the doob, saying “it’s a pretty big deal man, you can’t just smoke weed here on our patio.”

Now, if Amendment 64 hadn’t passed here in Colorado last November, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it, and definitely wouldn’t be writing this post about it. Even in our post-64 world here in Denver, which has become a national leader in cannabis culture at this point, you definitely can’t just walk down the street puffing on herb, the same way you couldn’t walk down the street with an open container of alcohol. However, we were in a private establishment (even if on the patio) and shouldn’t have had a problem if the fuzz were to come around and want to hassle us.

So it’s entirely possible that this particular bar just wants to be cautious and just completely kibosh any weed smoking, which is fair enough. In fact, after talking about this with several friends that live in the area, I’m pretty sure that is actually the case,  and I’ve heard about plenty of other places that seem to turn a blind eye in the same circumstance.

So it’s not some huge thing, but definitely an isolated event that proves that the true legalization movement still has a long way to go, even in Denver. With recent Denver city council activity pointing towards a likely ban on outdoor smoking in plain view, it’s frustrating to say the least.

My question is this: how long is it going to take before people can enjoy a substance that a majority of Americans now agree should be legalized, where they please? If you can smoke cigarettes (whose second hand smoke is much worse than marijuana) on patios and such, why not marijuana in a state that has allowed it and will began selling it for any adult to use recreationally in less then a month?

Has anyone else had this or a similar experience in Colorado (or Washington)?