Photo: Rep. Chris degruy Kennedy | Colorado Peak Politics | First they came for tobacco, now they’re coming for the beer, wine and all manner of drugs both legal and kinda illegal in Colorado wherever large capacity events are held.
It’s the Democrats in the state legislature who are pushing for a new law mandating that venues with more than 7,000 patrons designate and enforce substance-free zones for 4% of the crowd.
Sure that doesn’t seem like much seating, about 400 for Red Rocks, a couple thousand seats in Coors Field, and about 3,000 for a Broncos game.
But the penalty for non-compliance is extreme.
Venues that choose not to participate or don’t adequately enforce the law and accidently let someone in the wrong seat who was only faking sobriety but turned out later to be stoned risk severe penalties.
The punishment for permitting an alcohol-consuming patron to roam free into the no-fun-zone is the loss of the venue’s license to sell alcohol.
Senate Bill 23-171 is sponsored by state Rep. Chris degruy Kennedy and state Sen. Kevin Priola, and would punish thusly:
Concerning a requirement for substance-free seating at large entertainment facilities, and, in connection therewith, requiring such facilities to designate and enforce at least four percent of their seating capacity as substance-free seating and making failure to comply with such requirement a basis for refusal or denial of an alcohol beverage license renewal or initial license issuance and other forms of license-related discipline.
And they want the good seats, too, not the crappy ones in the nosebleed section. Probably because of the added entertainment value in forcing the staggering drunks and stoners to navigate all those stairs, which really is best left to sober folks.
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Go here to read the whole story for this perfectly stupid idea (not that we wouldn’t like having our own “substance free zone”):
https://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2023/03/17/democrat-bill-would-pull-liquor-license-from-events-declining-substance-free-zones/
[Thanks to Alex Teitz for contributing this article! http://www.femmusic.com]
Photo: Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy
https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/chris-degruy-kennedy
March 23, 2023| Music-Related Business| Barb Dye