DENVER — In a city with more dispensaries than Starbucks, certain spots have all the weed.
"Anywhere you go in Denver, you’re not farther away than a block or two from finding a dispensary at this time," said Eric Escudero with the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses. "There are some neighborhoods where it’s known that there are a lot of marijuana businesses."
Every year, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses puts out a list of neighborhoods that can no longer add more dispensaries or grow facilities.
"We want to make sure and protect neighborhoods of historical significance. So they don’t change. So they don’t turn into just a place that has lots of marijuana businesses," Escudero said.
The city put out the following list for 2024, meaning, "no new store locations can open in any of these neighborhoods, and no store can transfer its location into any of these neighborhoods."
- Overland: 13 locations
- Northeast Park Hill: 11 locations
- Baker: 10 locations
- Five Points: 10 locations
- Montbello: 8 locations
- Valverde: 8 locations
In addition, the city also limits the number of cultivation facilities or grow operations that can move into certain areas.
"No new cultivation facilities can open in any of these neighborhoods, and no cultivation facility can transfer its location into any of these neighborhoods," the Department of Excise and Licenses says.
- Northeast Park Hill: 28 locations
- Montbello: 24 locations
- Elyria Swansea: 19 locations
- Overland: 16 locations
- College View-South Platte: 13 locations
The new rules started back in 2021 when Denver City Council passed stricter regulations on marijuana businesses. There are now more than 300 in Denver, but the goal is to not group them all together in certain neighborhoods.
"We want to make sure that those neighborhoods, they’re what make Denver special," Escudero said. "We want to make sure that marijuana businesses are more spread out and not concentrated in just one neighborhood."
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