DENVER (AP) – Colorado lawmakers have backed off plans to regulate marijuana clubs, saying the state would invite a federal crackdown by approving Amsterdam-style pot clubs.
The state House voted Thursday to amend a bill that would have set rules for how private pot clubs could work.
It was a dramatic reversal. Bring-your-own pot clubs had bipartisan support in the Legislature, and the measure had already cleared the GOP Senate.
But lawmakers bowed to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who repeatedly warned lawmakers that he would veto a club measure if it allowed indoor pot-smoking. The governor also warned that clubs, and a separate proposal to allow pot delivery, might invite intervention from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Given the uncertainty in Washington, this is not the time to be . trying to carve off new turf and expand markets and make dramatic statements about marijuana,” Hickenlooper told The Denver Post last month.