The BYOB (bring your own bud) tour lasts about ninety minutes and kicks off in historic Five Points, once known as the Harlem of the West. There, guests make a quick pitstop at Denver Kush Club to stock up on goodies and spark up.
After that, the Cannabis Experience tour cruises through the city, offering views of Denver’s skyline as it heads toward Simply Pure dispensary. Owned by University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, Colorado's first cannabis business owner to hold elected office, Simply Pure is one of Denver's oldest dispensaries and the first Black-owned pot shop in the country.
“We’ll head back on through Welton and start talking more about the Welton corridor, its history, the buildings and the shops in the corridor. It’ll give a really good idea of what Five Points used to be when it comes to African American communities flourishing in Denver," says Sarah Woodson, the Cannabis Experience founder.
Woodson describes the tour as a tribute to what Denver’s Black community once was and what it can be.
“The majority of all of our cannabis tourists are Black. They're looking for things to do,” she explains. “They always say, ‘Well, there’s no Black people in Denver.’ I have an opportunity to share Denver’s Black culture with all these Black people that are coming in.”
As the first person to hold a mobile cannabis consumption lounge license in Colorado (and perhaps the nation), Woodson's work extends beyond entrepreneurship.
“The criminalization of it has to be justified through, now, communities and people that have been negatively impacted can financially profit from this,” Woodson asserts. “Let’s make sure that all of the criminal justice negative impacts that we've had in our community can at least allow those communities to profit from the plant.”
Debuting just in time for Black History Month, tickets for Roots, Rhythm and Reefer include a complimentary goodie bag, exclusive dispensary discounts and the option for downtown Denver hotel pickups at an additional cost; guests can also meet the canna-bus at the pickup spot on 26th and Welton streets, the heart of Five Points.
“Folks are going to be able to grab some cannabis from there. And then we're going to get back, and we're going to give folks the time to be able to smoke some weed. So the first twenty minutes, thirty minutes on that bus will be a good amount of time to sesh out," she notes.
Looking ahead, Woodson is focusing on pushing the boundaries of cannabis culture and advocacy. “For the next four years, I just want to be unapologetically focused on creating great experiences, and this specific one is for Black folks,” she says. “But trust me, this is just the beginning of many more experiences I plan to create.”
The Roots, Rhythm, and Reefer tour runs year-round, with bookings available on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 to 10:30 a.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and Sundays from 3 to 4:00 p.m. To book your ride, visit mycannabistours.com. For details on more one-of-a-kind experiences, follow The Cannabis Experience on Instagram @mycannabistours.
