The marijuana battle has returned to Denver's front yards.

The City Council continues to wrestle with where to draw the line on marijuana consumption when it comes to private property.

About half the council believes people should be free to smoke weed on their front lawns in full view of the public. The others want the law to forbid people from doing so out in the open.

The dispute will take center stage Monday, when the council holds a hearing to get the public's opinion and takes its first votes on the proposed rules.

Councilwoman Jeanne Robb seeks an amendment to forbid smoking on private property if it is observable from the street or sidewalk.

"Basically, you could smoke if you were able to screen your porch or patio or smoke behind a screened area," Robb said. "The whole reasoning is, basically, the front yard is the public face of your property."

Robb says she has six solid votes, but she needs seven to pass on the 13-member council.

Charlie Brown, a swing vote, said he is conflicted. He has been a staunch property-rights proponent but understands the problem Robb is trying to resolve.

"I don't want to see a bunch of pot parties on front yards," he said. "The city's image is at stake. I'm torn between my stance that a man's front yard is his castle."


Recently, Aspen passed its consumption rules, which ignored the subject altogether and essentially allows people to smoke on their properties.

Chris Bendon, the town's community-development director, said the idea was to follow rules on alcohol consumption.

"You can't wander down the street with a beer in your hand, and you can't wander down the street with a marijuana joint," he said. "But you can sit on your porch and drink a beer."

Robb said marijuana and alcohol are different and shouldn't guide the legislation.

"Marijuana is not exactly like alcohol because it is much more obvious because of the odor," she said. "And it is not like cigarettes because you get high after smoking."

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock initially co-authored a bill that would have forbidden smoking on private property if in view of the public or even if the smoke wafted out of a backyard. But the council has changed that proposal, and Hancock is watching the process with interest.

"We knew going down this road (that) we are going down a journey that hasn't been tread," Hancock said in a meeting this week. "We are pioneering something. The reality is we know these are difficult times. How do we protect those who are innocent, who say, 'I don't want to smell it, be confronted with it or be around it?' That is the road we are going down here."

Denver is the first big city in the world to devise rules over the consumption of recreational pot.

Colorado voters last year approved Amendment 64, which legalized consumption of marijuana by adults 21 or older as long as it wasn't consumed "openly and publicly" or in a way that puts others in danger.

That left it up to counties and municipalities to define what is public and what is not.

Councilman Chris Nevitt said he doubts a worst-case scenario will occur — people wantonly smoking on their front lawns in front of passing schoolchildren. If that were to happen and became a problem, he said the council could revisit the ordinance and make changes.

Smart Colorado, an advocacy group concerned about marijuana laws and how they affect children, said they support Robb's proposal.

"We really believe the intent and the plain language of Amendment 64 was for private and discrete consumption," said Gina Carbone of Smart Colorado. "Doing it in your front yard in front of children is the last thing we need. This strikes a nice balance."

Mark Silverstein, legal director for American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said private-property rights should be respected.

"When Denver residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of marijuana legalization, they surely expected an end to the era of law enforcement officers monitoring the use of marijuana in residents' homes and on their private property," he said in a statement.
