Denver Airport Won’t Cater To Pot Tourists, Bans All Marijuana-Themed Souevenirs

(Colorado Sands)

So let’s say you decided to take a trip and see what all the fuss is about with this marijuana tourism stuff in Colorado (let’s hope you were more successful than Maureen Dowd). But after all that cooking eating, giggling and agreeing with Neil deGrasse Tyson about everything, you forget to grab your marijuana-themed souvenirs and you’re already at the airport to head home. You’re out of luck.

You’ll have to rely on your words and Instagram shots to remember the experience, as the Denver Airport has banned all cannabis souvenirs featuring those signature leaves in the design, reports the Associated Press. Such products could taint Colorado’s image, airport officials believe.

It was already illegal to bring actual marijuana on the premises, with the state providing amnesty dropboxes for people to dump their overlooked weed before flying.

But after a retailer tried to set up a free-standing kiosk in the airport to peddle marijuana leaf boxer shorts and other items to capitalize on Colorado’s legal recreational marijuana, officials worried about the state’s reputation.

“We don’t want marijuana to be the first thing our visitors experience when they arrive,” airport spokesman Heath Montgomery said.

The retailer in question might sue, as she says the souvenirs are legal. And besides, the airport has no problem exhibiting craft brewers, which also features a product that’s only legal for people 21 or older.

But such a lawsuit would not be very likely to succeed, as it’s up to airports to decide on concession operators and limit free-speech activities like people passing out brochures.

In Washington state, the only other state where you can buy recreational marijuana, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has no such ban on pot-themed souvenirs, a spokesman said.

Smaller airports in Colorado also don’t ban the items.

But that doesn’t budge Denver’s airport officials, as airport spokesman Montgomery says it has a special obligation as the gateway to the Rocky Mountain region.

“Frankly there’s a lot more to Colorado than pot,” he said.

If you’ve got a flair for puns, however, you’re in luck: Things like “Rocky Mountain High” will get by, while any depictions of the marijuana plant, products with the word “marijuana” and pot publications will get the boot.

Main Denver airport bans sale of marijuana-themed souvenirs [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist