the travel joint
Out-of-state visitors, picked up from the airport in 30-seat passenger limousine buses (on which smoking will be permitted), will disembark in this warehouse district of Denver and receive an all-access tour of the growing operation, which is owned by a friend of Brown’s: The “mother” room, where the clones are born; the grow rooms, where the plants mature; the trim room, where the final product is sliced and diced. Afterward, there might be time for the group to take a pot-cooking class at a nearby cooking school—just so long as they make it to the private facility that’s been rented out in time for the tour’s daily “happy hour,” occurring promptly at 4:20 each afternoon.
This isn’t wishful thinking. Brown is the owner of My420Tours, one of a handful of operations that are launching to cater to all those visitors from out of state (and out of country) hoping to experience for themselves Colorado’s marijuana experiment, which became legal on Jan. 1. He says 4,000 people have signed up to be notified when he announces his first slate of four-day “Colorado Cannabis Sampler” tours, which will cost between $1,200 and $1,400, not including airfare. He’s hoping to appeal to marijuana connoisseurs, rather than just frat boys hoping to get high, since the latter need more chaperoning and tend to break stuff. It’s why, among his themed tours, he’ll be offering a swanky romantic getaway over Valentine’s Day weekend, which will include ballet tickets, a couples’ massage, and a glass-blowing class where people can make wine glasses or personalized bongs, for a per-couple price of $3,000 to $5,000.