(ABC News)--It was marijuana instead of champagne this year for some New Year's Eve revelers in Colorado, who lit up in private smoking clubs allowed for the first time under the state's new pot laws.
In Denver, people filled out an online application and paid a $30 fee to
become part of Club 64, a private marijuana club named after the new
pot law, Amendment 64. Members were advised of a private location in
downtown Denver where they could attend a New Year's Eve party with
other smokers.
"It went really well," said Robert Corry, an attorney who serves as
general counsel for the group and helped shape the language of Amendment
64. "We rented out a retail shop for the evening. We had a DJ, music,
some dancing, there was a bar and people brought alcohol, people brought
food. It was a very warm, fun, happy evening."
Corry said that the idea for a members-only club had been in the works
for years, and that Amendment 64 had been crafted specifically to allow
for groups of private smokers. The initial gathering drew hundreds of
interested smokers, Corry said.
"We're going to be getting together for periodic meetings and looking
for a more permanent home. We hope to settle into a more stable spot in
the future," he said. "We have a couple of hundred members at least,
judging by last night. We're emerging from the shadows of prohibition,
so there's' a lot of pent-up demand and interest."
Corry said he hoped the group would eventually have a space that
functioned like a bar, with a food and drink menu. For now, smokers
bring their own pot to the party. Under Colorado law, individuals may
now possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow six marijuana plants.
They are allowed to smoke in private places only, not in public.
The law passed by Colorado voters in November mandated that in 2013, the
state legislature would establish laws governing the licensing and
selling of marijuana commercially. Since it is still against federal law
to sell or possess marijuana, no businesses in the state are selling
pot yet, he said. Corry said he hopes that eventually, Club 64 will be
able to do so.
Across the state, in Del Norte, business owner Paul Lovato invited
friends and acquaintances to the White Horse Inn, a coffee shop he is
building, where he said he hopes people will be allowed to smoke
privately.
"I got (my permit) yesterday at nine in the morning, so I didn't have
time to go in and really build anything, so I said, 'Hey, I have it,
come on in, I'm open for business,'" Lovato said. "I invited people to
come in and smoke, to basically be in a private location and smoke under
Amendment 64. It was basically a gathering, with people smoking and
enjoying their legal right to smoke."
He said a dozen people from the rural area around the inn showed up to
celebrate, though he expects larger crowds once the shop is officially
open.
Lovato said his goal is to operate a coffee shop that sells T-shirts,
bumper stickers, and other pot-related gifts in one building on his
property. In another building, he will offer a "smoking den" area with
booths where guests can drink good coffee and smoke marijuana that they
bring with them.
"The White Horse Inn is not a hash bar that sells or distributes
marijuana," he said. "It's an Amendment 64-themed gift shop and coffee
shop. There's no distribution."
Lovato said that local officials had expressed some concern about the
White Horse Inn's gathering, and that he hoped to meet with officials
soon to discuss plans for the inn's official opening, scheduled for
April 20.
Though he and other groups and businesses may still be figuring out how
to operate under Colorado's new marijuana laws, Robert Corry said he is
thrilled that his work toward legalized smoking has been successful.
"The feeling was one of joy, really," he said. "This is what a lot of us
in this state have been working for the past decade. It was a real
relief that we can finally get to this point."
"It was nice to exercise our freedom and celebrate a little bit. That's
really what it's about. For us, we enjoy marijuana, but for me, it's so
much more, it's about freedom, and it felt pretty free last night," he
said.
