Wouldn't it be nice if instead of just bars with alcohol, there were establishments for people to consume cannabis while eating, playing board games, and socializing?
If anything, cannabis seems like a much better (and more profitable) drug around which to build a leisurely establishment.
Dutch coffee shops, you mean?
One or two every block in the old city center.
"the" old city center 🙂 The Netherlands is quite a bit bigger than the Amsterdam tourist trap 😁
That’s already a reality in some places. San Francisco, New York, and Amsterdam are some examples.
One can find a 'coffee shop' in nearly any city in the Netherlands. The first was Mellow Yellow in Amsterdam. They opened in 1972. From that point the formula they had, (by selling the cannabis themselves instead of the 60s, dealers hanging around in a bar who would often sell hard drugs as well), spread slowly around the Netherlands into the coffee shop culture we have today. Couple of years later in '75 our government started decriminalizing soft drugs. Early 80s a tolerance policy was set up, so coffee shops were still illegal, but could go about their busyness freely if no involvement with selling hard drugs.
Add Spain to the list.
There are some board game cafes in the states. And some of those overlap with legal weed :) but smoking indoors in public is still a no-go
I went to one in Thailand. Got to borrow a bong and play billiards and Uno and stuff, it was a real nice and comfortable little place
The issue is that a lot of people that smoke weed in place would reak. I don't think many people would enjoy the smell
Consumables only. Problem solved.
Problem with that is the latency. Suddenly you have to plan on customers staying two hours at least, likely more.
This is quite common in The Netherlands. They're called coffeeshops.
They are usually not very cozy though since they are barely legal and they don't want to get too much attention.
Since I'm getting downvoted here: what I wrote is based on my experience in the Zuid Holland region. It might be different in other places of the Netherlands.
Some coffeeshops have men with purple hats standing in front, essentially advertising the place. Not to mention all the big signs saying this is a coffeshop, with customers sitting outside on benches and smoking weed in plain sight. It's definitely possible to find coffeeshops with boardgames, although they are not very popular, since I guess most tourists aren't into that, and most locals can just smoke and play boardgames at home.
A bar near me has a few cocktails that use 5mg delta9 THC instead of alcohol.
All of their alcoholic drinks can also be upgraded with 5mg thc for a few bucks more.
Which bar??? Please link if you can, I travel quite a bit and I would genuinely go there.
I know of one in indy: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=indianapolis+dab+bar&ia=web&iaxm=places
that's just a "coffee" shop in Netherlands
For the ones complaining of smell, Ill take the weed perfume over vomit dipped alcoholics any day.
More friendly environment w/dry vaporizers (bag, whip, or portable/extract) so there's no smoke (and note the lack of lasting/scented steam clouds that people hate about flavored vape pens). Also edibles and the like... but that just time-delay dosed food.
I would say that drinking is a longer/more gradual experience so has more reason for a dedicated space. Though I guess the passable options that I mentioned could draw the experience out, but I've never done that so I'm not sure what that's like compared to one-and-done/hanging-out-when-high.
(though as others have said, it is a thing)
I'm tired of these people that are so scared of cannabis and it's effects, like they are straight out of reefer madness. You know what's significantly more harmful and in practically everything you consume these days? Sugar. Caffeine is a close second.
Source for the caffeine claim? As far as I know caffeine is inversely correlated with all-cause mortality. The mechanism is uncertain but has been theorized to be mild appetite suppression, digestion, or coffee outweighing the caffeine itself.
The comment might be conflating their given stat with legal drugs that are addictive. Caffeine is more addictive, not more harmful. It still kinda goes to the same point of a rejection of cannabis use on the basis of harm/addiction being generally hypocritical of society though
As others have said, they exist mostly as coffee shops. Honestly, with the prevalence and near ubiquity of Delta 8 across USA now, I would have thought someone would have put the effort into making coffee shops. I have no idea why they haven't gotten around to it yet. I found one that was a coffee shop that had delta 8 for sale, but not as a single product and they wouldn't let me eat it in store...
Your dealers home: Am I a joke to you?
Dealer? What's a dealer? Is that something I'm too Canadian to understand?
It's the guy with weed 30-40% less expensive than the guv'mint stores that also happens to be better quality 9/10 times.
(I kid to a point - I use dispensaries too, because what's not to like about picking up weed AND milk on a mini-mall grocery run - but seriously the market value for unregulated weed has plummeted something fierce since legalization. And what I've tried is pretty damn good).
That was the cool place 20+ years ago, not so much now.
There are a number of coffee shops exactly like that in Cape Town
These exist in some parts of California and Las Vegas. The ones in Vegas were all open within the last year or two AFAIK.
They've got this in Amsterdam but I would say it's less accessible than bars/alcohol generally due to how polluted the air gets (despite the best efforts of filtration)
Im every large city in the Netherlands btw.
In theory you could just do cocktails/edibles and have a smoking area.
Speaking as a smoker: it's a great idea until someone manages to start a fire (or deliberately sets one.) Also smoky interiors get uncleanably grimy FAST.
People smoked cigarettes indoors forever. Fires where not a big issue in bars.
Bay Area guy here. We have quite a few cannabis lounges.
Got any favorites?
Barbary Coast downtown for vibe is a good start
There have been a few private clubs in Colorado that allow this. It tends to be bring-your-own but you can smoke and do whatever once inside after buying a membership. Apparently they’re opening more official places called consumption lounges - one is opening on Colfax in Denver soon, apparently.
I hadn't heard about that, looks like they're just waiting to get the ventilation/HVAC approved. Might have to a check Cirrus out when they open.
Apparently the "Coffee Joint" was able to open and allow dabbing and electronic vaping inside without needing to meet the same HVAC requirements.
I don't care about cannabis consumption in public but anything that produces smoke or vapor should be treated the same way as cigarettes. Second hand smoke exposure needs to be minimized.
I am also not sure they would be more profitable. Alcohol is dirt cheap to produce and bars charge insane amounts for it. A $10 bottle in the supermarket frequently goes for hundreds of dollars. A cannabis lounge might be more profitable right now because there is very little supply but I doubt you can have anywhere near the amount of bars or clubs.
I agree on smoke.
For vapor, note that many dangers that you have heard of are related to ecigs (liquid-based vape pens). The ones that are flavored+have nicotine and added adulterants (glycol/glycerol at least), and that use a conductive heating coil that may expose the user to heavy metals especially if they get too hot (though probably more of an issue for heavy daily use). Plus with the higher water content, breathing in the steam cloud may be a lung infection risk.
For a dry (herb) vaporizer set at a temperature under 200C (and convection-based), you don't have those problems (2nd paragraph). I am not saying anyone should be near random people with this, but in a dedicated location it should be fine (especially with fresh/filtered air or an open space). You're breathing significantly worse stuff being exposed to the ambient car exhaust to/from said location (also: gasoline vapor at gas stations).
There are more pot shops than bars where I live. Plants are pretty cheap to grow.
Its hard to justify it for the same reasons we can't have Shisha bars and smoking lounges (at least where I live): 2nd hand smoke.
I can, as a non drinker, go to a bar and have myself a soda, and leave there as sober as when I walked in. If I do that in a room where everyone is smoking up, I will get high from the second hand smoke whether I want to for not.
I mean, why not just have a general social club with coffee/food, games, etc, and just step outside for a puff?
The smoke issue has been solved. I've been to cigar lounges that do not smell outside and barely smell inside, despite over a dozen people smoking sotgies in there. Massive HVAC systems and filters handle it all.
Cannabis can be edible and here in Milwaukee we're already seeing farm bill delta9 show up in bars and restaurants.
I think it is completely unacceptable to have public places where people go to get intoxicated in a society that practically requires cars.
It should be required that your uber/lyft, or bus/train ticket is prepaid in order to receive any product in these establishments.
This sounds like a great idea in a city center where cars are banned.
I've always thought this too. It's so crazy how acceptable alcohol use is compared to cannabis use when it comes to socializing for things like work.
If they replaced individual bars rather than expanded the space where drug consumption is the basis of socializing.
I don’t smoke weed, but phrasing it’s usage as “drug consumption” always annoyed me. It makes it sound like it’s the same thing as heroin or meth, which it’s not even close to the same thing.
This is a great way to make a 30 minute game into a two hour game. Source: years and years of trying it.
I do hope it becomes more socially acceptable to be high in places you can be drunk, but I think the smoking aspect is always going to be an obstacle.
we have cannabis lounges where I live. it's mostly for tourists that cannot consume in their hotel rooms. no outside products allowed, a menu is provided along with rigs, vaporizers, bongs, etc.
No it wouldn't. I'm sick and tired of the childish argument that if we accept alcohol then we have to accept or introduce other substance abuses because some find it more appealing.
Why shouldn't we accept it? Its already poven to be better for you than alcohol, many people enjoy it, and a lot less deaths per year will be caused by wee than alcohol. Should people who don't want to drink not be allowed to have a place they can hang out similar to a bar?
I like to get and be high alone though
Houston's 8th wonder has delta 8 drinks you can drink in their yard. It's really nice.
As long as you don't stink. So fucking sick of weed users smelling like ass in public.
I'm sick of alcohol users smelling like ass. If you don't drink then the smell of alcohol on someone's breath is absolutely nauseating.
I'm gonna add coffee drinkers. Honestly smell like actual shit, sometimes.
If they had a place like that here, the cops would post up 24/7, DUI all day baby.
They don't post up around bars 24/7 and alcohol related dui's cause thousands of deaths a year.
Yea hmmm. I guess I have a really shitty opinion of my local cops. They know everyone, and I'd imagine the clientele at a weed bar would be the kind that's more favorable to fk with, for them. They do post up at MAT clinics for sure, and bust people cause they can get a free dui charge, plus jail time, in most instances, cause everyone's got records. I'd like to think by the time I see a weed bar we'd have some more changes as well. Drunk driving is bad.
The difference is you can't taste other people's alcohol but you can smell others' smoke
People who are going to a place to smoke typically wouldn’t mind that. Take cigar or vape lounges, for instance. Also it’s usually people who don’t smoke weed who act like the smell of weed bothers them.
right but my point is if a group of friends want to go to a bar and some people don't smoke or like the smell of smoke then there is a problem, it's not like they can just opt not to smell smoke
You can certainly smell other people's alcohol. Most pubs reek of cheap beer
Some establishments yes, but in most places I would not smell alcohol unless someone spilled it all over the floor. It’s anyway much less compared to smoke that will stick to your clothes
Edibles might make it better. But then you'll need to give people something to do for an hour or so before it kicks in...
You mean like eating, playing board games, and socializing?
Dry vaporizers (with temperature below 200C) don't have smoke so are a lot less offensive with smell, if not odorless particularly with access to fresh air.
Also people smelling of alcohol, particularly if they are drunk or drinking liquor, is definitely a thing. Also barfing. I wouldn't doubt bars having bad smells sometimes.
Thanks for the shameless plug opportunity for m/dryherbvapes!
Right but you can consume cannabis in tons of different ways - cookies, cocktails, etc. Restaurants had smoking areas for decades with far worse air filtration systems.
there are THC drinks where I live, always a nice option for me to have at gatherings as a non-alcohol person.