Colorado is still working the kinks out of the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana. And with that comes a proposal to allow pot to be used in clubs. It is a change that should be looked into, one that could straighten out and clarify some oddities in the law and perhaps even benefit public safety and ease the burden on police.

State Rep. Kit Roupe, R-Colorado Springs, has drafted a proposal to create a retail marijuana club license. It would allow consumers of at least 21 years of age to use marijuana in a club. The club would also be allowed to serve food and alcohol if also licensed to do so.

It makes sense on several levels. Roupe says her thinking is not so much to give people a place to smoke pot as to clean up a legal gray area. There have been clubs that have sold memberships and then distributed marijuana at the club. Doing so is technically illegal, but the exact legal status is muddied by the idea of membership. Roupe’s measure aims to clarify that.

From a broader public point of view, which is preferable: giving marijuana users a legal place to congregate and smoke their weed, or having them sneak out behind a Dumpster or into a park? If they’re using it in a controlled, legal environment, the cops have one less thing to worry about and one less law to enforce.

There is also a matter of basic fairness. If drinkers – who kill more people on the highways than potheads – are allowed places to get together and consume alcohol, what is the issue with extending the same courtesy to those whose now-legal drug of choice is marijuana?

Then too, what about tourists? Hotels or motels that allow marijuana to be smoked in their rooms are rare. And smoking it in public is illegal. An argument can be made that the state should not encourage marijuana tourism, but the counter-argument is obvious – it does not need encouragement, only controls. A safe, legal environment out of the weather and under supervision seems like the solution.

It is also less dangerous than one of the alternatives. One way marijuana users can get high regardless of their location is with edible forms of the drug. With no smoke or give-away smell edible marijuana can be consumed in hotel rooms, bars, movie theaters or just about anywhere else.

But the edible forms have also proven the most problematic. The dosage and strength are unfamiliar, and the frequent resemblance to candy can be dangerous. A toddler is unlikely to find a joint and light it up. Something that looks like a sweet treat could go right into the mouth. Allowing clubs could help lessen the sale of edibles.

There is nothing critical or imperative about allowing marijuana in clubs, and local governments could still forbid it. But neither does it appear disastrous. Roupe’s bill deserves a good look.