Diners at certain restaurants in California will be able to smoke cannabis from next year after a new law allowing for ‘cannabis cafés’ similar to those made popular in the Netherlands was passed in the state.
The law, which was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this week and will come into force in January 2025, will allow businesses which are already licensed to sell cannabis to also serve hot food and non-alcoholic drinks.
The state Assembly and Senate both overwhelming backed the bill by a vote of 63-5 and 30-7 respectively.
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Democrat Assembly member from San Francisco, Matt Haney, authored the bill and welcomed its passing.
“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” he said.
“And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a sandwich, or listening to music.
“That is now finally legal in California and there’s no doubt that cannabis cafes will bring massive economic, cultural and creative opportunities and benefits to our state.”
Recreational cannabis was legalized in the state back in 2016, however black-market sales of the substance remain high.
Those in favor of the new legislation hope that it will help boost the legal cannabis industry and local economy.
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However, the law has not passed without criticism from health advocates.
Jim Knox, California managing director for the American Cancer Society Action Network, said: “Second-hand marijuana smoke has many of the same carcinogens and toxic chemicals as second-hand tobacco smoke.
He added that there were concerns that the new law “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”.
Governor Newsom had vetoed an earlier version of the bill over concerns that it could undermine “California’s long-standing smoke-free workplace protections”.
However, the version of the bill which was signed into law includes protections for employees such as mask-wearing and signs warning about the dangers of second-hand smoke.
