Northglenn dispensary offering $1 joints if your car fails an emissions test

Every Coloradan knows that getting an emissions test can be a drag, especially if your vehicle fails after waiting through a painfully long line. Doc’s Apothecary is trying to lessen the pain, though.

Because nothing softens the blow of a failed emissions test like a discount on weed.

That’s the pitch from the dispensary neighboring the Air Care Colorado Emissions location in Northglenn, where a sign on the back of the building facing the emissions line promises cheaper joints to anyone who can prove their car just flunked the state’s inspection.

“Show us a failed emissions test, get a joint for $1,” the sign reads, garnering attention and laughs from passersby on social media.

“Only in Colorado,” local Ariel Jones wrote on Facebook with a photo of the sign. The post saw over 100 shares and 1,000 likes in a few hours.

“If your car smokes, why can’t you?” another user commented.

The cheeky idea came about during a team brainstorming session, according to Brian Keegan, director of business development for the dispensary tucked away at 2100 E. 112th Ave. Because the location is not very visible from the main road, Doc’s was attempting to find a way to advertise on a hyper-hyper local level. The combination of location and emissions was perfect, Keegan says.

“We wanted to come up with something that would catch people’s attention and, hopefully, make them laugh,” he explains. “I have failed an emissions test before, and it’s not a great feeling, especially when the repair turns out to be something expensive, like a catalytic converter. This is our small way of helping someone laugh and feel a little better after receiving bad news.”

But the deal isn’t the only funny approach the dispensary has taken in advertising. A quick look at the Doc’s website shows an array of quirky deals for random holidays. For example, July 31 is Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day. If a customer tells the budtender any fact about a weird instrument, the store will honor any of its Monday-Sunday deals.

Keegan believes the response to the sign has shown that humor in advertising can “absolutely work.”

“The banner attracted a lot of attention online, started conversations and introduced new customers to Doc’s,” he says, adding that there “is no inside joke or problem with the Northglenn emissions facility that we are aware of … until now.”

But the sign isn’t a dig at the emissions center, which is part of a state approach to curbing car pollution. Just at the terrible news it can convey. In online discourse around the ad, people have saluted the idea while wondering why some parts of Colorado require emissions tests and others don’t.

Around 30 states require emissions testing when registering a vehicle, but newer vehicles and hybrid models are often exempt. Colorado is one of 19 that only requires emissions tests for vehicles registered within specific parts of the state, with those regions being the Front Range and Denver.

The price of emissions testing went up earlier this year, from $25 to $35, the first price increase in 22 years.