Initiative 300 is a Denver-local ballot initiative that would create a 4-year pilot program where existing businesses — such as a bar, cafe, or restaurant — would be able to apply for permits to allow cannabis consumption in designated areas.
Indoor consumption would be allowed only in vapor or edible forms, though cannabis smoking sections would be permitted if they were kept outdoors. The businesses would all operate on a bring-your-own-cannabis basis.
Each business would require an endorsement from a registered neighborhood organization, Business Improvement District, or other neighborhood group before it can be awarded a permit.
The ballot measure has been championed by Kayvan Khalatbari of Denver Relief Consulting and has spurred up opposition in some unexpected places.
NORML had been working on a social use initiative earlier this year, though it failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, and the organization issued a formal endorsement of Initiative 300 in September.
Check back to this post throughout the evening for more live updates as we follow Denver’s Initiative 300.
Update 10:45 a.m. (Wednesday) – After a series of landslide victories for cannabis measures and a near-unbelievable presidential upset, local ballot results have started to come in. As of early this morning, Denver’s Initiative 300 is in a neck-and-neck race that is currently too close to call, though the social use measure has a “razor-thin” lead, according to Colorado-based cannabis publications Marijuana Business Daily and The Cannabist.
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