Are Legal Weed Lounges the Next Big Thing?

Marijuana has taken the world by storm over the course of the past few years. In that time, we have seen countries change laws to allow the substance for recreational use, as well as a wide variety of states in the U.S. doing the same. Because of all these changes, it seems as though we are living in the most friendly time in history for the plant.

One of the newest fads that could become a reality has been the advent of legal marijuana lounges. The idea itself sounds quite harmless. Go to a dispensary, purchase your product legally, and then consume it in the same location. This process is quite familiar in other markets that have legal cannabis such as that of Amsterdam, where cannabis cafe’s line the streets. So then, what is the big deal about legalizing their creation in the U.S.?

It turns out that the U.S. is not very far behind when it comes to having these types of spaces. Currently, Las Vegas is well on the way to getting cannabis consumption lounges, while other areas such as San Francisco and Portland, already do.

One of the most interesting examples is of Washington State. While cannabis is legal there, it appears as though there has been a battle to legalize the use of these weed lounges. Recently, the state decided to vote on a bill, pushed by several marijuana advocacy groups, that would allow cannabis to be consumed at public events or in specific lounges made to do so. The current law and the one that exists in most places is that cannabis can only be consumed in ones home. This, however, seems quite contradictory to the age-old practice of going to bars to consume alcohol. With so many trying to gain the rights for cannabis that exist for alcohol, this type of semantic legalization has come to be quite a battle. While the bill most likely will not pass, it does set a precedent for where the weed industry could go in the future.

Some companies have been moving toward adding these lounges into their dispensaries, but it seems as though this can only be done when the law is permitting (of course). So with that, it looks like we may be stuck for a short while consuming marijuana in our homes.

The issue seems to be that cannabis is still considered to be quite dangerous as far as our federal legislation goes. The substance is a Schedule I narcotic which means that there is no potential for medical use as well as a high rate of addiction. While both of these are most likely invalid, cannabis has fought for the day that we live in in the present. There is no doubting that we have come quite far, but the future of cannabis lies in the coming months to years. The hopes are that dreams like cannabis lounges can soon become a reality as the world welcomes marijuana more and more with open arms.