Amsterdam-Style Cannabis Cafes? This Lawmaker Wants To See Them in California

When most people think of visiting Amsterdam, they think of one thing: the widespread availability of potent cannabis. California may be the birthplace of modern cannabis culture, but you can’t buy pot brownies at a cafe. Assemblymember Matt Haney has introduced legislation that would change that, by permitting California jurisdictions to license cannabis cafes.

In a release sent on Monday morning, Haney’s office said AB 374 would allow struggling cannabis dispensaries to diversify by allowing on-site consumption as well as food, live music, coffee and other elements of nightlife and entertainment that state law currently prohibits.

In other words, he’s calling for Amsterdam-style pot cafes, which have been a cornerstone of that city’s international reputation for 50 years.

“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” Haney said in the release. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music. There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal.”

Haney cites the 700 cannabis cafes across the Netherlands, which draw 1.5 million tourists each year to the famously tolerant nation widely regarded as the world’s cannabis paradise. Technically, however, weed is merely decriminalized in small amounts there, whereas adult recreational use has been legal in California for five years (although it remains illegal under federal law).

[Read more at The San Francisco Standard]