Cannabis cafes are on their way to Sacramento after a contentious Tuesday night City Council meeting where lawmakers narrowly approved a plan that allows smoking lounges.
The plan permits the city to have up to 40 cannabis lounges, where patrons can smoke cannabis and eat pre-packaged food. The lounges can only be at existing cannabis dispensaries.
The council voted 5-4 in support of the measure, with Mayor Darrell Steinberg casting the deciding vote. Steinberg acknowledged his position Tuesday night before giving a lengthy description of his thought process. “I’m really torn” on how to vote, he said.
Steinberg said he ultimately decided to support the measure because the city already allows cigar lounges, meaning it would be unfair to not allow cannabis lounges. He said he also wanted to give Sacramento’s renters a place to legally smoke cannabis, since many renters are blocked from doing so at their homes.
The law is a five-year pilot program that allows any existing dispensary in the city to apply to have a cannabis lounge. The lounges will be required to have special “negative pressure smoking rooms” that heavily filter the air.
H/T: www.sfgate.com
