Governor Newsom Has Signed the Bill to Legalize Cannabis Cafes Across California
September 30, 2024 - SFIST
Assemblymember Matt Haney’s bill to legalize food and beverage sales inside dispensary lounges has gotten by on the second try, and Amsterdam-style cafes and performance venues could be popping up in your local pot shops next year.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has kind of been on the legal marijuana industry’s shit list for the last week or so. That’s because last Monday, Newsom banned hemp products with THC in them, as hemp is one of those non-intoxicating byproducts of cannabis, and people have been infusing it with THC to skirt regulations. (Cheech and Chong have sued the state over Newsom's ban, because they have money invested in such products.) Then this morning, Newsom also vetoed another bill that would have allowed for cannabis sales at farmers' markets.
So hopes were not terribly high for SF’s own state Assemblymember Matt Haney’s bill to allow for cannabis cafes inside dispensaries that would be allowed to serve non-infused food and beverage. Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year over smoke-free workplace concerns, so Haney added some non-smoker protections to this year’s new version of the bill.
These apparently did the trick. The LA Times reports that Newsom signed the cannabis cafe bill into law Monday, so Amsterdam-style cannabis coffee shops could be coming to dispensaries across the state next year.
“I am signing Assembly Bill 1775, which would allow local jurisdictions to permit certain cannabis retailers to prepare and sell food or drinks that do not contain cannabis, as well as host and sell tickets to live events at their licensed premises,” Newsom said in a Monday signing statement. And in a reference to those smoke-free workplace concerns, Newsom added, “As I stated in my veto message of a similar measure last year, protecting the health and safety of workers is paramount to upholding California's long-standing smoke-free workplace protections.”
Critics say those smoke-free workplace protections are just a fig leaf, and they may have a point. Those “protections” are just a requirement that workplaces provide respiratory masks for employees who choose them, employers have to put up some warning signage, and in the words of the LA Times, are “required to include secondhand smoke in their injury and illness prevention plans required under California labor law.” Though honestly, what are the odds that many cannabis dispensary employees are complete non-smokers, and don't even smoke pot? Seems low odds.
And we must emphasize that there will be no alcohol sales at dispensaries. The new options they’re getting here are just the ability to sell food or beverages for on-site consumption, and to host live events (which many SF cannabis smoking lounges already do).
So how will this work? We really have no idea. While the new law takes effect on January 1, 2025, these cannabis cafes will need local regulations in effect to structure this kind of thing, and it would be several months until any cities has such rules set up. Plus, the law is likely to only allow for food and beverage sales at dispensaries that already have smoking lounges (which they prefer we call “consumption lounges”), as those facilities already have the additional seating and air-filtration infrastructure required to support a little "smoking section" restaurant.
And are dispensaries going to be willing to invest in kitchen equipment, walk-in coolers, and all the other hardware necessary to serve hot food and beverages? Legal retail cannabis is already a lower profit-margin industry than had been anticipated in the “Green Rush” days of the early legalization era.
So this notion that cups of coffee and frittata sandwiches will somehow solve the problems of a financially choking legal marijuana industry might be another example of some industry advocates being a little too high on their own supply.
* See related article:
California Will Allow Amsterdam-Like Cannabis Cafes - New York Times
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