This Tuesday, Denver held its first public hearing for a recreational dispensary, The Grove.

The City of Denver felt it was absolutely necessary to hold these hearings so that local residents can express their outrage that a business selling a substance that the majority of Americans think should be legal, and that the vast majority of Denver residents did in fact vote to make legal, would be moving in to their town. Actually, even to say they are ‘moving in’ is incorrect. The only businesses that can open a recreational dispensary before 2016 are the currently-existing medical marijuana dispensaries, so they are already here. Of course, to keep this in perspective, Denver also wanted to make the smell of marijuana punishable by a $999 fine.

So, just how much public outrage took place at the city’s first hearing? Absolutely none. Not only was there no chaos, not a single person voiced opposition to The Grove on 1st and Federal opening for recreational sales this January. The owner and some employees of the dispensary spoke on its behalf; the hearing lasted less than an hour. A second public hearing was also supposed to take place, but due to clerical errors had to be rescheduled. Quite a perfect picture of tax dollars hard at work here, right?