“Criminals don’t send out certified registered letters,” says Jetter. “If you have criminal intent you’re not looking to notify public officials as far as what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and how you’re doing it.” “The model was really scrutinized for legal reasons before we ever entered into it, in fact we had been looking at this model for the better part of two years to make sure that we could maneuver properly,” he says. “We did everything legally. We did everything according to code, we did everything according to Amendment 64, we did everything within the scope of the law, and we even put the officials on notice. It’s definitely disheartening when you do all of those things and for your efforts you get undercover cops [shutting down your business] and ultimately charged [with a crime].” After the first raid yielded only misdemeanors and the seizure of the cannabis on hand, Jetter and Couse felt they had a case they could beat given Couse’s earlier success defending the MJ Proper charges. But while the charges stemming from the raid on 4/20 were identical to the earlier raid on POTUS, the intent of law enforcers this time was much more clearly an attempt to drive a stake through the heart of the club. This time in addition to seizing the larger amount of cannabis and cannabis products that was on hand for 4/20, the police ransacked the property, taking the $160 out of the cash register, slightly over $600 from two cash boxes behind the bar, over $7,000 from a safe, and a dozen computers that
introducing a measure for approval by Denver voters — dubbed for the time being the Limited Social Marijuana Consumption Initiative — that would allow for clubs such as POTUS and the Grassroots Break Room to exist, and even expand consumption of marijuana to designated areas at adults-only establishments such as bars, provided they are shielded from public view. Tvert, who many consider the face of Amendment 64 and serves as communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, says he sees the measure as a codification of the promises made in Colorado’s historic amendment. While 64 includes language barring open and public consumption of marijuana, the intent of the amendment was always to allow business owners to make the decision as to whether or not to allow marijuana consumption on their property. “The goal is to really clarify the law,” says Tvert. “It shouldn’t take a business owner being treated like a criminal.” The attitudes reflected by these overreaching enforcement actions are not in line with Denver voters, says Tvert, and so the initiative aims to take the discretion that city officials have thus far been misusing away from them and definitively allow a place for marijuana users to consume, be they locals, or tourists who currently find themselves without a place to do so. “Denver city officials did not take action and really dropped the ball,” says
At roughly 3:45, less than an hour before 4:20, there was a powerful knock at the door. The young doorman opened to find a gaggle of uniformed police officers waiting to storm the premises, in possession of a search warrant they were reluctant to show to those inside. were used to register new members. But the damage wasn’t just in taken money and property, the damage to the piece of mind of members was something that might be harder to recover. “People are afraid of the police, people don’t want to be in the position that I’m in, people don’t want to be prosecuted, they don’t want to have to get up and go to court dates and face judges and lawyers,” says Jetter. “I don’t like doing it either.” In addition to the criminal charges and confiscations, the city also filed a nuisance abatement claim, effectively banning any of the club’s operators from returning to the premises. It was the final blow, and POTUS was finally shut for what may be the last time. But the raid at POTUS wasn’t the only enforcement action that seemed to target celebrations on 4/20 weekend. On April 19, police also shut down the Break Room at the Grassroots store in LoDo. Here operators had been offering a private members-only area for the consumption of cannabis by adults over the age of 21, unlike POTUS however, there was no reimbursement model, making it a strictly BYO bud venue. That didn’t mean much to law enforcement, who charged the business owners with operating a marijuana business without a license and violating the clean indoor air act. The Grassroots store now faces eviction from the building. If the situation in Denver seems bleak, a new proposal aimed specifically at allowing consumption of marijuana in something resembling a public manner may offer some hope. Marijuana activists Mason Tvert, in conjunction with the cannabis lawyer Brian Vicente, is in the process of
Tvert. While other parts of the state have either directly addressed the issue of marijuana consumption, such as Pueblo, or tacitly allowed it the way Colorado Springs has, Denver refuses such action that would undoubtedly benefit its tourism industry. “It’s really irrational and just part of this antiquated point of view that we think the voters in Denver don’t support,” says Tvert. The proposed ordinance is still currently in the developmental stages though, with potential for changes during the review and comment hearings that the city clerk mandates before an initiative can begin collecting signatures. But if all goes well, the collection of the 4,700 signatures required for the ordinance to be brought in front of voters this November could begin soon. Hopefully, the precarious situation cannabis users in Denver find themselves in will soon be resolved in their favor, and cannabis will take one step closer to actually being treated like alcohol as was promised when voters passed Amendment 64 in 2012. In the mean time, Jetter and others like him face a treacherous legal battle that has no guarantee of victory, despite all assurances. “If and when Mitch Morrissey and the District Attorney’s office drops this case and/or we get an acquittal through a jury, well, we’re planning on going right back into the model,” says Jetter. “And anybody else that needs assistance in propping up a cannabis bar in the city of Denver or anywhere else in Colorado for that matter, give us a call and we’ll provide a legal avenue for you to do that within the constitution.”
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