Anyone who has visited Amsterdam will recall the city’s ”coffee houses,” at which customers don’t purchase cups of Joe but smoke marijuana. Well, now Colorado has its own version of the Dutch coffee shop after the state’s voters legalized recreational use of pot. But it still can’t be smoked in public (ha!), so “private clubs” are opening where people can, for a fee, go to get a group high. From the FNN story:
With reggae music pumping in the background and flashing disco-style lights, members of the recreational pot club lit up in celebration of the new year — and a new place to smoke legally among friends. Club 64, in an industrial area just north of downtown Denver, opened at 4:20 p.m. on Monday, with some 200 people signed up. The opening came less than 24 hours after organizers announced they would charge a $29.99 admission price for the bring-your-own pot club.
“Look at this!” Chloe Villano exclaimed as the club she created over the weekend opened. “We were so scared because we didn’t want it to be crazy. But this is crazy! People want this.” The private pot dens popped up less than a month after Colorado’s governor signed into law a constitutional amendment allowing recreational pot use. Club 64 gets its name from the number of the amendment.
One can argue over the wisdom of legalizing marijuana, but I don’t think there is any doubt that this story illustrates the increasing hedonism of American society. On the bright side, the American entrepreneurial spirit is certainly alive and well.