No ganja yoga yet: Denver denies license for marijuana spa, citing proximity to child-care center

You may have heard about a new law the passed recently in Denver, Colorado that allows certain businesses to obtain a license for social cannabis consumption. While the law is currently operating and there is one coffee joint in the city that allows adults over 21 to bring their own cannabis and consume on the property, the business lined up to be second has just fallen short. Plans for a ganja yoga studio have been in the works for a year and a half only to find out the intended building to use is 20 feet too close to a child care center. The bill requires that licensees be 1000ft away from schools and child-care centers, but legislators are not budging on the 20ft discepancy. The potential ganja yoga studio has looked elsewhere for a building but as others have found out, the bill allowing social consumption licenses are extremely limiting on the permitted locations. So limiting that even the highly attractive idea of social cannabis consumption has barely seen many applications other than those mentioned. The yoga studio even got the blessing of the child-care center in question along with the neighboring communities and businesses, but at this point it seems the only way to make it happen is to bring the law in question and update the limited distance policy.

She questioned the city’s inflexibility, noting that her plan had support from the landlord, neighborhood groups and even the child-care center, adding: “I think this is a perfect example of why I-300 is not being implemented successfully.”

Sovine has set out plans at Utopia for cannabis-infused massages, ganja yoga, spiritual counseling and other services during the day. She also planned to have indoor and outdoor marijuana-consumption areas in the afternoon and evening for members and to make the facility available for weed-friendly events.

“The whole idea is to create social opportunities to bring people together,” Sovine told The Denver Post this year.