Jacqueline Collins
Audio By Carbonatix
Walk into just about any craft brewery in America, and it will happily provide a tour of the brewing and production process. Although most cannabis growers are just as affable, getting a look behind the scenes isn’t as easy.
State laws and secretive growing habits add a few hurdles to offering cannabis cultivation tours in Colorado — but a few growers are willing to open their doors. Some growing operations even offer tours for free, in hopes that you’ll stick around afterward to shop in their attached dispensaries; others have partnered with cannabis-friendly tour services as part of hours-long excursions around Denver.
Here are four possibilities in the Mile High:
Seed & Smith
5070 Oakland Street
720-506-2533
Seed & Smith has been hosting cannabis production tours for years at its facility in north Denver. You won’t just tour the grow, either; there’s an extraction lab as well as a dispensary. After learning about the life cycle of commercial cannabis plants and holding a pound of weed, you can shop for the end product at the Seed & Smith store. The 45-minute tour (21+) is free and available Thursdays through Saturdays, but you need to sign up online first.
Colorado Cannabis Tours
1904 South Cherokee Street
303-420-8687
Colorado Cannabis Tours has been providing pot-friendly tours around Denver and other parts of Colorado for a decade. You can book a seat for trips to the mountains, visits to haunted spots around the city, or a tour of a Denver dispensary and growing operation. Once on the party bus leaves from Colorado Cannabis Tours headquarters, you can light up and get ready for a visit to gardens run by brands such as Del Mundo Cannabis, where you’ll learn about the ins and outs of growing and selling weed. Trips are offered daily and start at $69.
Karmaceuticals
4 South Santa Fe Drive
303-765-2762
Open for almost fifteen years, Karmaceuticals is one of Denver’s longest-running dispensaries. It dates back to before recreational pot came along, when medical dispensaries were still getting raided by the feds. So it’s hard not to appreciate all of that history and risk while walking around the Karmaceuticals grow and store in south Denver, which is one of the few dispensaries left in the Mile High that puts medical patients first. You can tour the grow for $35, but sometimes Karmaceuticals offers free tour deals on its website.
Mile High Limo Tours
Denver and Boulder areas
303-222-0035
Created for those who want to smoke and ride in style, Mile High Limo Tours offers private, cannabis-friendly rides and tours around the Denver area. You can visit a growing operation, dispensaries and a glass gallery, with pick-up and drop-off options for Red Rocks shows, ski trips and Denver International Airport flights, as well. Limos and party buses are available for booking seven days a week, with three-hour rides starting at $399.
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