Beginning subsequent 12 months, diners within the western US state of California can smoke hashish at sure eating places, due to a brand new regulation permitting for “cannabis cafes” akin to these popularized within the Netherlands.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed a invoice into regulation Monday authorizing companies which are already licensed to promote hashish to serve scorching meals and non-alcoholic drinks.
It can go into impact on January 1, 2025.
California legalized leisure hashish in 2016, however dispensaries that promote the substance legally stay much less in style than the black market.
“Right now, our small cannabis businesses are struggling to compete against illegal drug sellers that don’t follow the law or pay taxes,” stated state assemblyman Matt Haney, who authored the invoice.
“In order to ensure the legal cannabis market can survive and thrive in California, we have to allow them to adapt, innovate and offer products and experiences that customers want,” Haney continued.
Some cities like West Hollywood, close to Los Angeles, have been calling for such laws for years.
The liberal enclave hopes to compete with Amsterdam and already hosts “cannabis lounges,” the place dispensaries are hooked up to separate bars or eating places.
Now, the regulation will enable any enterprise within the state to comply with the identical mannequin with out falling right into a authorized grey space.
Not everyone seems to be in favor of the transfer, nevertheless.
Public well being advocates have expressed concern concerning the impact smoking hashish in eating places can have on lung well being.
“Secondhand marijuana smoke has many of the same carcinogens and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke,” learn an announcement from the American Most cancers Society’s advocacy department.
The brand new regulation “undermines the state’s smoke-free restaurants law and compromises its enforcement, thus threatening to roll back decades of hard-won protections of everyone’s right to breathe clean, smoke-free air.”
California notably banned smoking in bars and eating places almost 30 years in the past, the primary US state to take action.
Newsom had vetoed a distinct model of the invoice final 12 months, citing the well being issues.
Nonetheless, the brand new model of the regulation signed Monday will embrace parameters to make sure staff in hashish cafes can put on masks to guard themselves and be told of the dangers of inhaling secondhand hashish smoke.
