Blogger-pundit Matt Yglesias really wants more bars. First at Think Progress, then at Slate and now at Vox, the commentator has waged a one-man rhetorical war on the country’s urban liquor boards. The current licensing system, in which the number of bars is constrained by city bureaucrats rather than market demand, Yglesias has argued, leaves us with a paucity of public drinking spots where they’re wanted. From New York’s East Village to Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C., license limitations have caused bars to become rare, expensive, crowded and all around worse. 
 
 There’s just one problem with Yglesias’ more-bars plan: alcohol. America has a serious issue with responsible drinking, and increasing the number of sales locations probably won’t help. Alcohol abuse already kills tens of thousands of Americans annually and costs hundreds of billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, health care and property damage. It’s an especially big problem for college students and other young people; Jake New reported for Insider Higher Education that at least eight college freshman died in the first few weeks of school this year, most in alcohol-related accidents or overdoses. “Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a fairly dramatic increase of alcohol-related hospitalizations in this age group,” George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health, told New. More bars would contribute to what’s already a public health crisis. Studies in Los Angeles and Cleveland suggest adding a bar is associated with about three additional violent crimes a year. 
 
 It’s hard to imagine bars without alcohol. Caffeine is popular, but it’s not what economists call a substitute good for booze. Luckily, those aren’t our only options. In a post for Vox, German Lopez suggested that the strongest argument for marijuana legalization might be that people will use it instead of alcohol. Although prohibition has no doubt suppressed use, marijuana’s social costs per user are negligible, especially compared with alcohol’s. A recent National Institutes of Health study suggested that marijuana appears to fit the seven published criteria to be a substitute medication for alcohol, in the same way doctors prescribe methadone for heroin dependence. From a public health perspective, every drink we can replace with a toke is a victory. 
 
 Individual states, moved by a combination of hard evidence and shifting public opinion, are advancing with plans to legalize recreational marijuana use. So far, only Colorado and Washington have gone all the way to legalization, but the whole country is headed quickly in that direction. Despite all the new regulatory architectures for growing, distributing and using marijuana without violating the law, no states have been willing to propose what responsible common use in public could look like. Not one Amsterdam-style coffee shop has managed to keep its doors open. Still, there’s a demand for marijuana bars or weed cafes or whatever we end up calling them, a demand that’s being suppressed far more strongly than the demand for more alcohol bars. ||||| People attend the Denver 420 Rally, the world's largest celebration of both the legalization of cannabis and cannabis culture, May 21, 2016 in Denver Coloroado. (Photo credit should read JASON CONNOLLY/AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 DENVER, Colo. -- Denver voters decided to push the boundaries of marijuana law by passing ordinance 300 in this year’s election, which opens the possibility of designated areas where marijuana can be used at places of business. 
 
 The idea was supported by many of the same people who helped campaign for Amendment 64, which made Colorado the first state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana. 
 
 When Amendment 64 passed, it was clear that there wouldn’t be many places where people could legally use marijuana besides their own homes. The amendment included language spelling out that it did not authorize the use of pot openly and publicly. 
 
 The new ordinance is designed to change that—allowing people to gather and use marijuana in businesses that obtain special permits. 
 
 But there are a lot of hoops for a business to jump through before it can legally allow people to light up a joint or start munching on edibles. 
 
 Here’s a practical guide to Denver’s new law: 
 
 THERE WON’T BE ‘HASH BARS’ IN DENVER 
 
 Colorado’s state marijuana laws ban consumption at retail locations, which means you shouldn’t expect Amsterdam-style hash bars in Denver. 
 
 While it’s theoretically possible for a social use business to locate near a marijuana store, they would need to be separate businesses, each with their own regulations to abide by. 
 
 Aside from that, there aren’t many restrictions on the types of businesses that can apply for a social use license. 
 
 It’s possible you’ll see pot patios popping up in coffee shops, restaurants, or bars in Denver. 
 
 In contrast with Amsterdam’s hash bars where alcohol cannot be sold, Denver’s social use ordinance would not ban the sale of alcohol in locations open to marijuana consumption. 
 
 However, limiting or banning alcohol consumption can be made part of the agreement with neighborhood groups (more on the role they play below) for each specific social use license. 
 
 Colorado law also bans people from selling pot to each other—you could show up to a social use establishment with some marijuana to share with your friends, but you could get busted if you try to sell any to people. 
 
 SMOKING NEEDS TO BE OUT OF SIGHT 
 
 You shouldn’t expect to see pot smoking areas when you’re walking down the street in Denver. 
 
 The ordinance spells out that “any outside smoking of cannabis occurring at street level is not visible from a public right-of-way or a place where children congregate.” 
 
 Consumption areas would be off-limits to anybody under the age of 21. 
 
 The businesses will also have to abide by the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, which bans smoking in the vast majority of indoor areas. However, it’s theoretically possible for an indoor marijuana smoking area to open in a licensed cigar bar. 
 
 It’s also possible for businesses to create indoor consumption areas not meant for smoking, but rather for marijuana vaping or edibles consumption. 
 
 The statute also requires the social use business to make “reasonable accommodations” to prevent the odor of marijuana from reaching people outside. 
 
 YOU NEED TO GET OTHERS ON BOARD 
 
 One of the prominently-advertised aspects of initiative 300 is the requirement that businesses show “evidence of community support” in order to get a social use license. 
 
 A business would do this by partnering with an “eligible neighborhood organization.” 
 
 This may seem difficult, but even though Denver has 78 official neighborhoods, the number of registered neighborhood organizations (RNO’s) in the city is nearly 200. RNO’s are not difficult to create and are allowed to draw their own boundaries with no ban on overlapping each other. 
 
 For reference, the 9NEWS studios are located in a part of the city covered by 8 different RNO’s. 
 
 Alternatively, businesses trying to get a social use permit can get permission from a business improvement district or any other group the city deems eligible as a partner. 
 
 THE RULES MAY BE DIFFERENT AT EACH BUSINESS 
 
 In order to get a permit, social use establishments and neighborhood groups would be allowed to reach an agreement with rules tailored for each specific license. 
 
 They can put virtually any restriction imaginable into the license. 
 
 The new Denver law specifically envisions agreements that: 
 
 limit or ban alcohol consumption 
 
 have rules to prevent DUI cases, including requiring the business to offer patrons free rides home 
 
 establish company policy in running the establishment 
 
 control odor 
 
 restrict advertising 
 
 regulate the distance of consumption areas from public spaces 
 
 create more restrictive hours of operation (None of the social use establishments will be allowed to operate between 2:00 am and 7:00 am) 
 
 These rules can be made into official city restrictions on an individual license, each written to tailor to the agreement between the business and its partnering neighborhood group. 
 
 In addition, each business will be required to submit a written operations plan to the city describing how it will prevent underage people from gaining access and how it will train its employees. 
 
 
 
 Copyright 2016 KUSA ||||| DENVER (AP) — Crowds were serenaded by live music as they waited for the nation's first legal recreational pot shops to open. They ate doughnuts and funnel cakes as a glass-blower made smoking pipes. Some tourists even rode around in a limo, eager to try weed but not so eager to be seen buying it. 
 
 A recreational marijuana menu and price list sits on a counter at 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver, early Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began retail... (Associated Press) 
 
 DENVER, CO - JANUARY 01: Customers wait in line, which was more than 300 deep by 10 a.m., on the first day of retail marijuana sales at LoDo Wellness in Denver Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. Customers can legally... (Associated Press) 
 
 Before opening for business, a private security guard watches the door at 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver, early Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began... (Associated Press) 
 
 Employees help customers at the crowded sales counter inside Medicine Man marijuana retail store, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began... (Associated Press) 
 
 Employees help customers at the crowded sales counter inside Medicine Man marijuana retail store, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver on Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began... (Associated Press) 
 
 Customers stand in line shortly after the opening of 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver at 8am on Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began retail marijuana... (Associated Press) 
 
 And when the sales began, those who bought the drug emerged from the stores, receipt held high and carrying sealed shopping bags, to cheers. 
 
 "I'm going to frame the receipt when I go home, to remind myself of what might be possible: Legal everywhere," said musician James Aaron Ramsey, 28, who did some time in jail for pot possession in Missouri and played folk tunes with his guitar for those in line. 
 
 Activists hope he's right, and that the experiment in Colorado will prove to be a better alternative to the costly American-led drug war, produce the kind of revenue that state officials hope and save the government costs in locking up drug offenders. 
 
 Just on the first day, prices in some places rose to more than $500 an ounce, and some shops announced midafternoon they would close early because of short supply. It's too soon to say whether the price spikes and long lines will persist. 
 
 Washington state will open its pot industry later this year. Both states' programs will be watched closely not just by officials in other states, but by activists and governments in other countries because the industries will be the first to regulate the production and sale of the drug. 
 
 Some countries have decriminalized the drug, and the Netherlands lets people buy and sell it, but it's illegal to grow or process it. 
 
 Just as shops opened Wednesday, the Denver Police Department tweeted, "Do you know the law?" and linked to city websites on state and local laws that include bans on public consumption, driving under the influence, taking marijuana out of state and giving pot to anyone under 21. 
 
 Denver police said one person was issued a summons for public consumption. The Colorado State Patrol reported no pot-related incidents. No pot-related incidents were reported at Denver International Airport, where signs warned travelers that they can't take the drug home. 
 
 At least 24 pot shops in eight towns opened. In Denver, pot users welcomed the new year and the new industry by firing up bongs and cheering in a cloud of marijuana smoke at a 1920s-themed "Prohibition Is Over" party — a reference to the 1930s-era law that outlawed marijuana. 
 
 Shopper Jacob Elliott said he wrote reports in college about the need to end pot prohibition, but never thought it could happen in his lifetime. 
 
 "This breaks that barrier," said Elliott, who traveled to Colorado from Leesburg, Va., to be among the first to buy legal weed. 
 
 Preparation for the retail market started more than a year ago, soon after Colorado and Washington voters in 2012 approved legal pot industries. Uruguay passed a law in December to become the first nation to regulate pot, but regulatory system isn't in place yet. 
 
 Pot advocates, who had long pushed legalization as an alternative to the drug war, had argued it would generate revenue for state coffers — and in Colorado's case to support education — and save money by not locking up low-level drug offenders. 
 
 "I feel good about it. The money's going to schools," said shopper Joseph Torres of Denver. 
 
 The price for high-quality weed at some shops was around $400 an ounce. That's about four times what smokers are paying on the black market in Colorado, according to crowd-sourced Internet surveys. Much of the extra cost was attributed to state and local taxes in excess of 25 percent. 
 
 People who were waiting in line shared their pot incarceration stories over coffee and funnel cakes. 
 
 "Trafficking conviction. Nineteen years old. For a plant, how stupid," said 24-year-old Brandon Harris, who drove 20 hours from Blanchester, Ohio. 
 
 Colorado set up an elaborate plant-tracking system to try to keep the drug away from the black market, and regulators set up packaging, labeling and testing requirements, along with potency limits for edible pot. 
 
 The U.S. Justice Department outlined an eight-point slate of priorities for pot regulation, requiring states to keep the drug away from minors, criminal cartels, federal property and other states in order to avoid a federal crackdown. 
 
 With the additional police patrols, the airport warnings and various other measures, officials hoped they have enough safeguards in place to avoid predictions of public health and safety harm from the opening of the pot shops. 
 
 A group of addiction counselors and physicians said they're seeing more marijuana addiction problems, especially in youths, and that wider pot availability will exacerbate the problem. 
 
 "This is just throwing gas on the fire," said Ben Cort of the Colorado Center for Dependency, Addiction & Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Hospital. 
 
 Some medical marijuana patients groups say they're worried about supply. That's because the retail inventory for recreational use is coming entirely from the preexisting medical inventory. Many in the industry warned patients to stock up before the sales began. 
 
 It was too soon to tell whether prices for medical marijuana patients were going up. 
 
 For now, they should have plenty of places to shop. Most of Colorado's 500 or so medical marijuana shops haven't applied to sell recreational pot, and many that have plan to serve both recreational and medical patients 
 
 The industry has not just given rise to shops, but a whole line of other businesses, including tours. 
 
 Addison Morris, owner of Rocky Mountain Mile High Tours, had 10 clients waiting inside a limo who paid $295 for three hours of chauffeuring by a "marijuana concierge" who would help them choose strains and edible pot products. 
 
 Morris said she's booked through the end of February with out-of-state clients, who get samples in designer bags. And for the tours, guests are asked to leave cameras at home. She said she's selling discretion. 
 
 "We're your grandmother's pot connection," the 63-year-old said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt . Associated Press writer Jim Anderson contributed to this report.
– Malcolm Harris doesn't have a problem with more bars—he just thinks those bars should sell pot, not alcohol. In an opinion piece for Al-Jazeera America, Harris offers his take on how marijuana bars would give Americans more palatable gathering spaces with fewer health risks, creating an "urban-planning win-win" and possibly even saving lives. Some highlights: Harris points out the 88,000 deaths annually from excessive alcohol use as noted by the CDC and the "hundreds of billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, health care, and property damage" that the National Institutes of Health has researched. Citing another NIH study, Harris says that pot would serve as an acceptable "substitute medication" for booze: "From a public health perspective, every drink we can replace with a toke is a victory." There are few places these days that resemble the famous bar from Cheers. "Fewer and fewer people have a third place (not work or home) where everyone knows their name," Harris writes. Because so many people have migrated to the suburbs and holed up with their cable TV and Internet, not as many people are heading out to congregate. "These spaces [would] promote community integration, friendship, and extrafamilial networks of support," Harris notes. Although he's optimistic that "eventually Americans will have public places to go and get high with their friends," Harris thinks government should ease up on strict regulations. "Not one Amsterdam-style coffee shop has managed to keep its doors open," he writes. "Though owners seem willing to conform to whatever guidelines they're given, so far, no locality wants to be the first to host an American marijuana bar." Harris also acknowledges some of the logistical hurdles that businesses may have to overcome. "One problem with weed bars is employees' right to a smoke-free workplace; even if cops allowed indoor marijuana smoking, no one would be allowed to work there," he writes. Click for his full piece.