Colorado’s cannabis party buses keep chugging on

Meet Colorado’s newest cannabis entrepreneurs: bus drivers.

Earlier this year, the state began licensing companies that offer 4/20-friendly bus tours.

The first company to receive such a deal, Cannabis Experience, hit the road in Denver in early March.

Local news station Denver7 reported at the time that the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses, which issued the license, “believes it may be the first and only licensed mobile marijuana dispensary in the country.”

The company’s CEO, Sarah Woodson, explained to the broadcaster how the company would work:

“There are several rules that guests must follow. Woodson says that before the tour begins, IDs are checked and information about safe consumption is shared. Smoking is permitted on the bus, but marijuana is not sold on the bus. Non-alcoholic drinks and food are also available to guests. As for tours, Woodson says there will be a variety of options, including airport pickup and drop-off.”

Drivers must bring their own weed to the Cannabis Experience, but when it is dry drivers will take it to local dispensaries.

According to the Denver Post, cannabis bus tour companies must comply with a variety of local regulations.

“Denver requires marijuana buses to have a GPS tracking system and ventilation that prevents secondhand smoke from reaching the driver. You are also required to submit pre-planned itineraries and timely updates of route changes. That’s one of the reasons The Cannabis Experience will begin picking up and dropping off airport travelers and two of their tours at Union Station,” the newspaper reported.

“Because we’re first, there’s going to be a learning curve on how to make everything work as smoothly as possible,” Woodson told the Denver Post.

Other entrepreneurs have also weighed in, applying for licenses from local retailers.

Local broadcaster 9NEWS reported last month that three other companies have “applied for the city’s new mobile marijuana service license, which will allow people to legally smoke weed while on bus rides.”

The station noted that Denver has only made such licenses available to “social justice” applicants who must meet one of the following requirements: “Applicant resided in specified neighborhoods for at least 15 years between 1980 and 2010”; “Applicant or his family member has been arrested for a marijuana crime, convicted of a marijuana felony, or has a civil confiscation of property imposed in connection with a marijuana investigation”; “The applicant’s household income in the previous year was less than 50% of the national median income for this household size.”

While companies like Cannabis Experience represent the first state-licensed businesses of their kind, Colorado has had other unregulated, weed-friendly bus tours before.

As the Denver Post noted, such businesses first appeared when recreational marijuana sales began a decade ago.

“In 2018, for example, undercover officers raided local marijuana tour buses and accused many customers and employees of engaging in unlawful activity. Ironically, city regulators were considering legalizing the business model at the time,” the Post said. “The conundrum highlighted a gap in Colorado’s then-nascent marijuana market: Locals and visitors alike had a variety of places to legally purchase produce, but nowhere else but a private home could they legally consume.”

The newspaper continued, “So in 2019, state regulators developed the hospitality marijuana license, which enabled a new type of business where guests could smoke, eat, or vape cannabis on-site.” However, hospitality operations are slow to take off, as municipalities must choose to allow them. The first chance for cities to do this was January 1, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, few did so right away. Denver didn’t open applications until November 2021.”