Just when you thought the cannabis market could not possibly grow any larger, an increasing number of California cities are opening weed cafes and cannabis lounges. Here, customers can consume cannabis in a restaurant setting. Everything from bongs and vaporizer pens, to cannabis oil, concentrated cannabis, and cannabis beverages are just an order away.
The Dawn of a New Era
Less than six months before the pandemic began, the Original Cannabis Cafe — known at its opening as Lowell Cafe — debuted with a massive green-tinged bang in West Hollywood. The nation’s first cannabis consumption lounge experienced long lines that twisted down La Brea Avenue, with locals and tourists waiting their turn to openly consume cannabis. After taking a hit from the pandemic and shutting down, the Cannabis Cafe has plans to reopen soon, along with a slew of other weed lounges ready to make their mark across California.
The second cannabis consumption lounge to make their debut is Artist Tree. With four dispensary locations throughout Southern California, this flagship dispensary is completely functional, with a consumption lounge already open and accepting reservations on Santa Monica Boulevard. The group is one of the few that have received every license possible in West Hollywood: adult-use retail, medical retail, delivery, a full cannabis consumption lounge, and an edibles lounge where more than half the space is designated by law to be non-smoking. They even offer other activities such as live music, art, consumption events, and wellness classes.
The Drawbacks to Cannabis Lounges
With other locations planning to open soon in California, this could be a huge boost to the state’s economy and help put a stop to the illegal market. Although, not everyone thinks that this is a good idea. Though California voters legalized marijuana in 2016, the law preserved local control, and many officials do not want weed sold in their communities. According to the New York Times, 62 percent of the state’s cities, including large municipalities such as Bakersfield, Anaheim, and Fremont, do not allow any kind of marijuana retail.
Cannabis lounges and weed cafes also present a litany of new policy questions that will probably not be easy to sort out. California law restricts indoor smoking, and there are regulations intended to protect employees from working in smoke-filled environments. Even though legal lounges such as Artist Tree have the proper licensing to allow for on-site smoking, as well as an outdoor area, it could deter other companies from trying to open their own weed cafes.
Boosting the Local Economy
Despite these drawbacks, there is still hope on the horizon. Just last month, the Ojai City Council in California signaled interest in moving forward with a proposal to allow three cannabis dispensaries in the city to open lounges where customers could smoke, vape, or consume edibles. According to the Los Angeles Times, the council originally was considering a policy that would allow only the consumption of edibles in the lounges, per a recommendation from the Ojai Planning Commission, but it was rejected. They then requested additional time to reach out to the city’s three dispensaries to get a better idea of what the lounges might look like, which could take several months.
So far, the three cannabis shops have delivered hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to Ojai, both from local and out-of-town customers. Jeffrey Kroll, who owns one of the shops, told the New York Times that 20 percent of his weekend sales come from visitors. By allowing dispensaries to create spaces within their existing locations where customers can consume cannabis on-site, it could be another huge boost to the local economy.
While there are still some legal formalities that need to be settled in order to bring weed cafes and cannabis lounges to all other states that have legalized weed, in due time and with federal regulation, they may soon be popping up all over. We can already see the boost in sales it has brought to California, so just imagine what other tourist areas can accomplish.