Biden helps California move closer to cannabis cafes
California lawmakers are steaming ahead with a plan to approve Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes, where patrons can have a hot meal, sip on coffee and watch a show while smoking their joints.
Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a very similar proposal last year over public health concerns, but this time around, the bid has newfound momentum on its side from an unlikely source: the federal government.
The Biden administration has officially moved to lower decades-old restrictions on pot, starting the process of reclassifying it from the most strictly controlled Schedule 1 — alongside drugs like heroin and LSD — to a Schedule 3 designation reserved for substances with low potential for abuse and easily accessible with a prescription.
Industry advocates say it could help normalize operations that are still highly regulated and treated differently than most businesses. The change at the federal level would also give Newsom another angle to consider.
A bill from Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat, easily cleared a floor vote this week and isn’t expected to face much resistance in a Senate that overwhelmingly embraced the idea last year.
Advocates hope the federal change of heart will help convince Newsom — who stumped for the 2016 legalization push as lieutenant governor — to get on board.
“It gives us a lot more options and opportunities as we're rethinking policy and rethinking our cannabis framework in California,” said Amy O'Gorman Jenkins, legislative advocate for the California Cannabis Industry Association. “Consumption lounges, and the ability to consume cannabis in a commercial space, is really part of that broader discussion about normalizing cannabis in the U.S.”
What normal looks like for cannabis is still a very open question in California, the first state to legalize the plant for medical use nearly 30 years ago. California already allows cannabis consumption lounges — but those establishments are limited to serving pre-packaged food items.
Haney, who represents a San Francisco district with more than a dozen cannabis lounges, says it makes no sense that a small business should be limited to selling one kind of product.
“In San Francisco, maybe we'll have a cannabis lounge drag show brunch,” he told POLITICO earlier this month. “That's our brand. And we should be able to do that. Why can't we do that?”
Public health groups opposing the bill say that narrative ignores their hard-won fight to ban smoking in restaurants statewide in 1995. Autumn J. Ogden-Smith, director of California State Legislation for the American Cancer Society, acknowledged that state law already allows consumption at lounges, which could expose employees to secondhand smoke, but argued that exposure shouldn’t be extended to kitchen staff.
Ogden-Smith said the main change to the bill, a prohibition on smoking in food preparation areas, won’t stop smoke from getting through ventilation systems. She’s hopeful Newsom will reject it again.
“People want to have some fun, enjoy themselves and not go to jail, understandably,” she said. “But the reality is when you smoke, regardless of what you're smoking, there are carcinogens that impact your health, and they can cause cancer.”
Eric He contributed to this report.
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