Adagio Bud+Breakfast: Denver's first cannabic hotel

When Amendment 64 took effect in Colorado in January 2014, effectively legalizing cannabis, hordes of tourists rushed to the state to test the new legal drug, only to find there was nowhere to smoke it.

While adults over 21 can legally possess up to 28g of marijuana, strict rules made consumption difficult. As the open alcohol containers, cannabis could not be consumed in public. Even though certain cigar clubs enjoyed immunity from the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, which prevents smoking in public places, cannabis stores have to comply. As a result, cannabis entrepreneurs have not been able to open coffeeshops as we know them in Amsterdam for example.

National parks are also subject to federal law, which makes cannabis camping tricky. Not respecting cannabis law in the USA, despite increasing legalization, The penalty for smoking is thousands of dollars in fines or prison sentences. This posed problems for visitors with nowhere to smoke, such as a friend's apartment.

So along come Joel and Lisa Schneider, owners of the Mary Jane Group, pioneers of the «cannabic hospitality sector», and the Adagio Bud + Breakfast, in downtown Denver. Unlike hotels with a public lounge, a private room allows consumers to smoke cannabis on their premises. The adagio opened in 2014, taking the hotel market aimed at cannabis-using tourists quite a turn.

Entering the Adagio is anything but unusual. The Georgian house (built in 1892), with its chandeliers and grand piano, doesn't really look like a crackhouse. Only the few glass bangs might give you a clue to the house's secret.

Hotel guests can book a very nice room for 179-399$ a night, and enjoy a Wake and Bake breakfast, with eggs, coffee and why not a small portion of cannabis. Happy hour arrives at 4.20 a.m. every day.

Guests are not allowed to smoke in their rooms, so they congregate in the common room, which creates a strong bond between hotel guests, who can stay there for a few hours talking amongst themselves. The owners keep a close eye on their clientele in this way. «It's like being at Mum's, except you can smoke on the sofa», said one guest.

A perfect complement to the CannaCamp, a more open-air oriented company.