Denver's First Licensed Marijuana Party Bus Is Already Booking Rides to DIA

Denver is set to issue the first permit for mobile marijuana consumption in local and perhaps national history, according to the city Department of Excise & Licenses.

Kush and Canvases, a pot hospitality business owned by entrepreneur and social equity activist Sarah Woodson, is about to receive a permit for a party bus that will allow marijuana-friendly travel around the city. Woodson is already booking rides to Denver International Airport, where she has secured drop-off and pickup spots, and she plans to have the bus officially on the road by March 1.

On top of marijuana-friendly rides to and from the airport, Kush and Canvases will offer tours around the city, with stops at popular Denver restaurants, head shops and dispensaries; the bus will also be available for private bookings. Woodson says that she would like to find a location to serve as Kush and Canvases' pot-friendly headquarters, too, so that she can go back to hosting puff-and-paint and sushi-and-joint-rolling classes, but she's excited to launch her mobile lounge in the meantime.

"It's been a very long time coming," Woodson says. "I'm being told we're the first business in the United States of America to have this license, so Denver will be first in cannabis again."

Denver's marijuana hospitality program has approved a small handful of establishments, but only one of them, the Coffee Joint, is currently open and operating. Unlicensed buses and vans had allowed marijuana use in the past, but that's been banned in Denver since 2018.

Kush and Canvases received a mobile hospitality license from the state Marijuana Enforcement Division last April and applied for a local license later in the year. To be approved, Woodson had to retrofit a party bus to ensure that the vehicle has proper air ventilation and a partition between the bus driver and guests.

Marijuana hospitality businesses are banned from alcohol sales, but the bus will have pre-packaged munchies and beverages for sale, according to Woordson, as well as various smoking and clothing merchandise available. Smoking, vaporizing and edibles will all be allowed on the bus, she notes.

Marijuana use in a licensed mobile lounge can only take place within jurisdictions that allow pot hospitality, and all of the routes must be planned and approved by the city ahead of time. Outside of Denver, unincorporated Adams County is the only metro-area government to allow marijuana hospitality.

"It doesn't take long to get the route approved," Woodson says, "but they want to know every stop you make, your start and end points, and that you're not stopping in front of a restricted area to smoke." Those areas include child daycare centers and city-owned parks and recreation facilities.

Kush and Canvases rides to and from DIA will cost $100, with pickup and drop-off points at Union Station and popular hotels around downtown Denver. Woodson is still ironing out the other packages her bus will offer, but she plans on partnering with businesses that support social equity ownership in the marijuana industry, a cause Woodson has pushed at the local and state levels, including her support of an upcoming bill at the state legislature.

"We'll have different bundles, and we plan on partnering with a dispensary that supports social equity. Once we solidify those partnerships, that's where we'll be taking our customers exclusively," she explains.

Woodson plans to apply for another permit for a second vehicle, and hopes to have it running before the end of the year.

Denver has been low on licensed marijuana hospitality spaces since recreational sales began in 2014, but there are some opportunities emerging. While the Patterson Inn was approved for indoor marijuana smoking last March, the Capitol Hill hotel is still renovating an indoor parlor to meet city codes. Tetra Lounge, another marijuana-friendly space in Denver, was approved for local hospitality nearly a year ago, but still hasn't received its official permit. (According to Tetra's owner, building renovations and installing an approved HVAC system have held up the opening.)

Colorado Cannabis Tours was recently approved for marijuana use at its headquarters in south Denver, but the building still needs to undergo renovations before opening. And Cirrus Social Club, a proposed social lounge on East Colfax Avenue, just had its first approval hearing on February 10.