One of the longest running cannabis lounges in metro Denver is closing its doors.
iBake Denver has announced that it will close for good at the end of the year. In a video posted on the YouTube page of iBake Denver on November 6, owners Thurlow Weed and Little Tree announced that the upcoming state marijuana hospitality laws will force them to close by 2020.
“These new rules are making it so the [state] Marijuana Enforcement Division will now be overseeing cannabis clubs and the licensing of cannabis clubs, along with the individual counties and municipalities that choose to adopt these rules,” Weed said.
“We wanted to create a legal spot for people to come and consume cannabis, whether they were locals or whether they were from out of state, in a fun safe, environment — and we’ve done it.”
The new law allowing marijuana hospitably businesses requires both state and local approval. According to Weed, he doesn’t think iBake can attain both.
The club is located just outside of Denver in unincorporated Adams County, and Weed argued that Adams County won’t adopt language permitting social use establishments any time soon.
“We don’t feel that we would be able to provide the security to our members that we’ve been able to provide over the last several years,” Weed also said. “This is not something that we want to do. This is not something that we foresaw.
Denver and Colorado Springs are the only local governments that license cannabis lounges currently.
“That’s kind of what happens when new laws and regulations are made…We usually find that the founders of that industry are usually regulated right out of that business, and a new wave of businesses come in,” Tree said. “We’re also very happy knowing that future cannabis consumption businesses wont have to go through all the struggles and bullshit we went through.”
December 31 will be iBake’s last day, Weed said.