Legal weed sparks Colorado debate - why not allow pot clubs?

The result is something marijuana advocates and opponents feared — people toking up on sidewalks, in city parks and in alleys behind bars and restaurants — despite laws against doing so. From the capital city of Denver to mountain resorts like Aspen and Breckenridge, police wrote nearly 800 citations in for the new crime of public consumption in 2014, the first year recreational sales began. Denver voters may consider a ballot measure this fall to make the city the most populous place in the nation to expressly allow pot clubs. The amendment that legalized marijuana doesn't give people the right to use it "openly or publicly," a nod to critics who said legalization would lead to an explosion of Amsterdam-style clubs. Things get even more complicated in the Denver suburb of Englewood, where city council members were apparently taken by surprise that the city had licensed a pot club. Alaska's Marijuana Control Board voted last year to repeal an explicit ban on social marijuana clubs, but the state hasn't yet finished work on the potential to allow for people to use pot at certain stores that sell marijuana. Law enforcement officials have said the clubs could lead to more impaired driving, though there's no evidence that existing underground clubs have been linked to traffic accidents or crime. The Democrat planned to propose some sort of pot club bill during the recent legislative session, but gave up after law enforcement, the pot industry, state regulators and even bars and restaurants couldn't agree on how it should work. Marijuana activists trying to get a club measure on Denver ballots say pot skeptics should welcome clubs for just that reason.