The mayor and city council of Colorado has given Denver the approval to proceed with their cannabis delivery service.

Deliveries will begin sometime in the summer of 2021. The new laws also allow for consumption clubs. The clubs will allow customers to purchase and consume small amounts of cannabis on the property.

The consumption club owners will have an option to apply for one of two hospitality licenses. The first will allow customers to consume cannabis on the premises. The second option will allow the business to also sell small amounts of cannabis.

Dispensaries will hire third-party vendors to carry out the cannabis delivery. The delivery drivers will need to possess a special license in order to make the deliveries. The new licenses will only be available to people who meet the city’s new social equity criteria.

They will also remove the previous 220-store cap on dispensaries in Denver. New businesses in the city will now be able to apply for a license.

Social Equity Program

The new business opportunities and licenses will only be available for the next six years for those who meet the city’s social equity guidelines.

Denver created the social equity program to help minority residents and people from communities most impacted by the war on drugs. Anyone applying for a dispensary, delivery, or hospitality license in Denver must meet the following criteria.

• The applicant must have been a resident for at least 15 years between 1980 and 2010 in a census tract designated by the state as a “Disproportionate Impacted Area”.
• The applicant or the applicant’s parent, legal guardian, sibling, spouse, child, or minor in their guardianship must have been arrested for a marijuana offense, convicted of a marijuana offense, or subject to civil asset forfeiture related to a marijuana investigation.
• The applicant’s household income in the year before application did not exceed 50 percent of state median income, measured by the number of people who reside in the applicant’s household.

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