Evan Semón Photography
Audio By Carbonatix
Denver has levied a $10,000 fine against Tetra Lounge, one of the city’s only licensed cannabis consumption venues.
Open at 3039 Walnut Street since 2018, Tetra has had a complicated relationship with the Denver Department of Licensing & Consumer Protection (DLCP), formerly known as the Department of Excise & Licenses. The space initially operated as a members-only lounge for five years, during which it had occasional run-ins with licensing officials and the City Attorney’s Office over alleged violations involving smoking indoors, personal distancing during COVID, and whether its events were public or private.
Despite the speed bumps, owner Dewayne Benjamin has been able to keep the wheels turning, much to the pleasure of the city’s cannabis industry, which has often hosted various events or sponsored parties at Tetra — in fact, Westword received news of a disciplinary order against Tetra the same day we were scheduled to host an event there last year.
The DLCP sent Tetra a show-cause order on August 7, accusing the business of multiple infractions, such as allowing illegal cannabis and psychedelics sales on the property. In December, a city hearing officer recommended that Tetra be fined $10,000 for the infractions, with a one-year probationary period that carries an additional $10,000 fine and sixty-day closure if additional violations are discovered. The DLCP’s ultimate decision, issued Wednesday, February 18, by executive director Molly Duplechian, follows that recommendation.
Tetra was accused by city inspectors of allowing advertisements for psilocybin, DMT and other psychedelics during a large 4/20 event held at the venue on April 20, 2025, when a vendor at the event was allegedly handing out psilocybin-infused gummies that day. Although adults 21 and over can possess and share psilocybin, DMT and a few other natural psychedelics in Colorado, selling them at events and advertising psychedelic sales are banned in Colorado, with potential added penalties for licensed cannabis businesses, according to local and state licensing rules.
The DLCP also accused Tetra of allowing cannabis vendors to provide “samples” to visitors, which is banned by the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, as well as hosting people inside the building despite not having a local certificate of occupancy. Tetra was accused of allowing marijuana concentrate and edibles to be sold to visitors by an unlicensed cannabis vendor during a follow-up inspection in July, as well. According to the DLCP, security footage backs up these allegations, but Benjamin argues against its interpretation of “samples.”
According to Duplechian’s decision order, Tetra was advised of occupancy and vendor regulations by various local and state compliance officials before the follow-up inspection in July.
“Yet despite these efforts to assist Mr. Benjamin just three days prior to the July event, there were still multiple violations that took place, including one of the vendors openly giving away and selling marijuana product. There was no evidence that Mr. Benjamin worked with his vendors ahead of the event to ensure they were not distributing marijuana product,” Duplechian says in the order.
Benjamin says he plans to appeal the DLCP’s findings. He denies knowing of any illicit sales taking place at Tetra that day before being alerted by inspectors, and says any cannabis handouts from patrons or vendors at Tetra are forms of “sharing, not samples.”
“This definitely warrants more investigating and evidence than what was out in,” Benjamin says. “I knew what they were going to decide here. I just think it was whack, and it kind of sets a precedent for any social space if someone else commits a violation.”
Pointing to years of issues with the city licensing department and the difficulties of running a licensed cannabis hospitality business, Benjamin argues that he’s being “targeted” by the city. Benjamin also says that one Denver employee wasn’t practicing everything the city preaches that day: An inspector who visited Tetra on April 20 ate a gummy from the booth accused of handing out psilocybin edibles, he says. (After the Denver Post inquired about the incident, DLCP said that the employee who allegedly ate the gummy no longer works for the City of Denver.)
Benjamin says the city didn’t investigate enough into alleged illegal sales, citing a lack of testing on the cannabis products in question and noting that the complaint listed no individual selling the products, just the name of the vending brand.
“There was no testing to say the alleged person was selling marijuana, and not CBD,” he argues.
Still, the licensing department maintains that the onus is on the business owners to be aware of illegal activities taking place on their property, and having a big event is no exception.
This is the first fine the city has issued to a licensed marijuana hospitality business, according to the DLCP; Tetra has ninety days to pay it. There are only a handful of such businesses operating in the city, with two other licensed and operating cannabis consumption venues, as well as several services and mobile lounges.
Despite being legal in this city for almost nine years, cannabis hospitality has struggled to get off the ground in Denver for a variety of reasons, with critics pointing to restrictive operating and location rules at the local and state levels, as well as insurance policies banning alcohol and cannabis use on the same property. Tetra has survived the longest so far, and Benjamin plans to continue on — but he’ll likely have another fine coming at the state level.
According to Benjamin, he’s close to a settlement with the state Marijuana Enforcement Division and expects to pay “something similar” to his $10,000 fine from the city. Tetra hasn’t yet filed an appeal with the DLCP, but Benjamin says he plans to do so; all appeals to DLCP disciplinary decisions, which are made by Duplechian, are also handled by Duplechian.
Tetra can continue to operate while appealing the order, but the deadline to pay the fine still applies unless a judge rules otherwise, according to the DLCP.
“You know, we made it this far. We’ll figure it out, whether we have to hold a fundraiser, or something,” Benjamin says. “I think with the support of the community, we’ll be fine. But it’s getting tough.”
