Pubdate: Wed, 18 Mar 2015 Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO) Column: CannaBiz Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent Contact: http://www.csindy.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536 Author: Bryce Crawford NEW CLUB 420 SPEAKEASY OPENS, SALES TAX REVENUE SPIKES AND MORE Nice and easy Travis Perkins knows exactly why he recently moved from Indiana to Colorado: "to be part of the movement!" The 24-year-old is the new owner of 420 Speakeasy (1532 N. Circle Drive, 471-3398), a 3-week-old cannabis social club with an old-school feel. "Moving out here ... I went to a lot of smoke clubs around town; I liked them a lot. I just wanted to do one specifically for the community, make it very nice, very clean, very safe," Perkins says. "And really try to point this game in a very professional, very clean direction so we can take over the masses and don't get beat out by [big companies like] Pepsi and Coke." To that end, Perkins says to expect "a very suit-and-tie kind of place," which is exactly what male employees wear, while women rock a flapper look. Additionally, pool tables, dart boards and a dance floor and deejay booth join chandeliers, shiny marble floors and seating. On one side, there's a small shatter-wax bar for the dab-inclined. "All of our wax, our oils, is member-made, member-donated, and actually smoked by members on a member premises," Perkins says. "And that's how we keep it legal." An advertisement on the club's Facebook page refers to a group within the club called the Oil Inn - a "private growers concentrate league" - - promising a monthly competition in which homemade wax is judged 3.5 grams at a time. Naturally, the first event comes April 20. Meanwhile, membership starts at $50 per month, with additional levels available at added cost. Perkins says he has more than 100 members already, with the venue often filling to capacity - so much so that, this week, the company will tear down a wall and expand into the space next door. "And we are right next to Baskin-Robbins," the owner says, "so it's a win-win in the stoner world." Keef crumbs January brought a bonanza from Colorado's marijuana industry, which generated $8.8 million in sales-tax revenue for the state. The Associated Press reports that $2.3 million came from an excise tax dedicated to funding school construction, a more than 10-fold increase from January of last year, when it brought in $195,000. The money comes at an interesting time for the legislature, however, as it has yet to maneuver around a TABOR law that says the state must either refund marijuana monies collected or ask voters if it can keep them. Quote of the week, from the Brookings Institution's John Hudak regarding the glut of lawsuits filed against Colorado recently: "This is the last hurrah for a lot of individuals in the anti-marijuana community," Hudak told The Washington Post. "It's pretty clear that they've lost the battle for public opinion." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom