High-rises dot the cityscape on Nov. 4, 2019, in downtown Denver.
Thomas Peipert/AP Photo

The state also recently gave out half a million dollars in grants to help fund social equity applicants. But even the most well-intentioned assistance from regulators can’t help overcome structural challenges beyond the city’s control, entrepreneurs said.

Colorado law gives municipalities wide latitude on marijuana policy. In fact, many cities and towns throughout the state — including Colorado Springs, the state’s second largest city — still bar adult-use marijuana sales, despite the state’s reputation as a haven for the cannabis industry.

Local governments must pass an ordinance to allow deliveries or voters can do so at the ballot box. To date, only a handful of the state’s nearly 300 jurisdictions have OK’ddeliveries.

Local control was one of the biggest challenges Cohen ran into after starting his delivery services: Doobba was only allowed to deliver within the city of Denver. But from the start, 80 percent of the calls his business received were from people outside the city limits.

“Coming from a hospitality background … you want to say ‘yes’ to your customers,” Cohen said. “Every time you say ‘no,’ it’s like a lost opportunity in sales.”

Bureaucratic snafus are also holding up entrepreneurs.

Dewayne Benjamin is a social equity applicant with a prior marijuana-related conviction who received a $50,000 grant to help boost his consumption lounge in Denver. Benjamin has operated Tetra Lounge for four years under a pilot program that prohibited cannabis sales on the premises. But he had to shut his doors in January while he sorts out zoning and building issues as he seeks to get licensed under the new social equity program.

All the while, he’s still paying the costs to maintain his space, which pays homage to famous stoners with photos of Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson adorning the walls.

Building regulators told him they lacked architectural plans on file for his building, requiring him to hire a variety of professionals — architects, electricians, engineers — to draw up new plans to submit to regulators. He doesn’t understand why city officials didn’t raise the issues with him earlier.

The renovations to make his space ADA compliant cost more than $80,000,eating up his grant, among the largest issued by the state.

The outdoor space of Dewayne Benjamin’s consumption lounge in Denver features murals by local artists.