| Graphic: Party Pelican |
| The voters of ski haven Breckenridge, Colorado legalized up to an ounce of marijuana last November. Now they have their first smoke-easy. |
If you’re 21 or older, you can get high at a private club on Main Street, Breckenridge, Colorado — but town officials are considering a law to prohibit marijuana consumption at such venues.
For a monthly fee, members of Club 420 in Towne Square Mall can rent or buy vaporizers in an exclusive lounge, reports Robert Allen at Summit Daily News. Marijuana is not sold at the club, which neither permits or prohibits use of the herb.
The club opened on April 20. Owner Collette Wilson said it is not connected with medical marijuana dispensaries. Members must be at least 21 and agree to the club’s rules.
“(Members) also agree not to inquire, seek or try to receive any cannabis from any of my employees,” Wilson said.
Wilson, a former middle and high school math teacher (where was she when I was learning math?), said the club offers a better alternative to “cars with smoke billowing out — to me, that’s inappropriate,” she said.
| Photo: Summit Daily News |
| Club 420 owner Collette Wilson: “We’re definitely health advocates” |
Wilson said Club 420 supports healthy lifestyles. “We’re definitely health advocates, and smoking is dangerous to your health,” Wilson said.
The club offers members access to vaporizers, a significantly healthier alternative that doesn’t involve actually burning the cannabis.
Vaporizers priced from $25 to more than $1,000 are for sale at the club, and can also be rented. Membership dues are $20 per month until the end of May, when they will go up to $50.
Wilson also operates the Colorado Cannabis College in Breckenridge, which offers training for medical marijuana specialists and growers, as well as information on marijuana’s medicinal components and history.
Club 420 member perks include free access to Colorado Cannabis College meetings, wireless Internet in the lounge, and planned future additions including large-screen TVs with theater seating, aromatherapy and possibly an oxygen bar.
The club seems to be operating within the Breckenridge town code, which prohibits consumption in “places of business generally open to the general public,” in accordance with state marijuana laws.
Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman claimed the town has received complaints from a couple of neighboring businesses that “they don’t feel that type of business is appropriate in the town.”
Holman said the town is examining case law to figure out whether Club 420, operating as a private club, is violating the law as a business open to the general public.
“Our intent right now is to amend this ordinance and put it in front of council for a first reading May 11 … to prohibit any use or consumption of cannabis within a business in town,” Holman said.
Breckenridge Councilman Jeffrey Bergeron shares Chief Holman’s opinion of Club 420. “I don’t think it’s particularly good for neighbors of that business and just the perception of the town,” Bergeron said.
While Bergeron supported an initiative Breckenridge voters approved last November allowing possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, he said he’d prefer to “let the dust settle” with local and statewide marijuana laws before supporting a business like Club 420.
