DENVER, Colo. (BlackNews.com) — Mile High Classic Tours LLC, a new Colorado tour organizer, is offering unique weekend getaways to help out-of-state visitors connect to the state’s marijuana dispensaries for safe recreational and medical marijuana consumption.
Founded by former NBA Star Roland “Fatty” Taylor who played for the Denver Nuggets in the 1970′s, the company promotes a two-night vacation to Denver, which includes guidance on how to make recreational or medical marijuana to a vacation in the metro area. After arrival at the airport, guests are taken directly to a tour of Medicine Man dispensary and later to a welcome buffet dinner party at Classics Events Center.
“When they see and tour Medicine Man, they get to see firsthand what’s needed to grow and sell a safe, controlled product in a safe, state-inspected environment. Our focus is educational first, then entertainment and enjoyment. We educate people about the industry and the laws,” explained Al Bowen, a retired real estate and mortgage broker, who is one of two entrepreneurs behind Mile High Classic Tours.
Bowen is the chief operating officer and his business partner Roland “Fatty” Taylor, a retired Nuggets basketball player, is the chief executive officer.
Their vision is to showcase Colorado’s outdoor and entertainment destinations by promoting to the new market segment created by the state’s burgeoning cannabis industry.
The Mile High Classic Getaway includes air fare between Denver and cities like Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. The plan is to fill each tour with 100 guests from different cities. Overnight accommodations are provided in the heart of downtown, convenient to several shopping and arts districts and within walking distance of a few dispensaries as well as trails and parks. The monthly tour offers plentiful free time where guests can enjoy the city, plus an optional day trip to the casinos in the historic mountain towns of Black Hawk and Central City.
“When I sat down with a staff member at Crowne Plaza Denver to discuss ways our guests could enjoy a 420-friendly tour, she said the hotel has already hosted some cannabis tourists,” Bowen said. “She said they were easy-going, well-behaved and returned to the hotel hungry, so food sales at the restaurant and on-site shop went way up.”
A report by the state’s Department of Revenue shows taxes collected from just 59 recreational and medicinal marijuana businesses statewide were $2.9 million in January 2014. The figure indicates the total sales by all current businesses may have been more than $10 million for the first month that both recreational and medicinal cannabis were legally operating. And that figure is bound to multiply dramatically as another 101 recreational marijuana businesses are licensed but not yet operating.
Bowen concluded, “Enjoying cannabis has never been easier or safer. Colorado’s new laws protect consumers of recreational and medicinal cannabis by creating a secure way to buy with the peace of mind that you are getting quality products.”
