The Artist Tree Dispensary & Weed Delivery West Hollywood is also an art gallery, showing art specifically for pot smokers.
You order a sandwich, a coffee and a marijuana cigarette, then settle in for a musical performance. This could become the future under a bill aimed at changing the landscape of cannabis use in California.
The legislation put forward this month by Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) would legalize the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages at cannabis retailers and lounges.
“It’s not unlike a neighborhood bar or cafe where people gather and get a lot of social value [out] of that,” Haney said. “We’re allowing in many places on-site consumption of cannabis, but they’re pretty sad places right now because you can’t eat or drink.”
Alcohol would not be allowed at the “cannabis cafes” under Assembly Bill 374, Haney noted.
If passed, the bill and its counterpart introduced in the state Senate would allow localities and cities to permit the consumption of food and drink at cannabis retailers. The state would not force the new regulations on municipalities, Haney said.
Haney’s bill would also allow cannabis cafes to host live performances and sell tickets to the events.
Haney said he has spoken with marijuana retailers from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley, all of whom say their businesses must expand to survive.
“If we want this legal industry to survive in California, we have to change these laws. They’re losing to the illegal cannabis industry, and one thing that the legal cannabis small business can offer is an experience,” Haney said. “Cannabis businesses told us that they may have to close their doors unless the laws change. The regulations that prohibit them from offering other products like food are a huge burden.”
In West Hollywood, cannabis cafes are using workarounds to serve food and drinks. At the Artist Tree Dispensary & Weed Delivery on Santa Monica Boulevard, weed smokers can hang out at the second-floor lounge as if dining at a restaurant. People can order food from Fresh Corn Grill, a restaurant that has a deal with the Artist Tree.
H/T: news.yahoo.com
