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.
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
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
Dry vaporizers (with temperature below 200C, convection-based) 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.
Yep that's the 21st Century way to party. Smoking tastes almost disgusting after making the switch.
Bars could have bar-top vape systems and you could bring your own plant materials or buy there, but you would probably have to buy a disposable nozzle for the vape systems. Each patron could use a clean disposable tip for their visit to minimize germs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
They also still allow smoking in casinos in Vegas because they don't want to lose those addicts as customers. The amazing HVAC systems in casinos was part of why they were able to open back up so fast.
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)
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.
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.
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.
Heroin, amphetamines, alcohol, and cannabis all have genuine medicinal uses, and also all can be abused depending on context. Drug consumption is a fine, value-neutral term, which can refer to both their use and abuse.
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.
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
More friendly environment w/dry vaporizers (bag, whip, or portable/maybe extract) so there's no smoke (under 200C, convection-based) (and note the lack of cotton-candy scented steam clouds that people hate about flavored ecigs/liquid vape pens). Also edibles and the like... but that's 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.
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...
I visited a couple of places exactly like this in Madrid and Barcelona. It was really cool, although a bit clandestine due to cannabis regulation. If I recall correctly, it wasn't illegal to use, it just wasn't legal to advertise it, or to do it publicly. The people running the places were really nice, bunch of different selections, and they had board games and good music.
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.
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.
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, or even something as unassuming as candles because those are burning).
But we (1) already have bars that have this problem far worse and (2) why would we require being completely car free to have such a place? The vast majority of people already don't drink and drive. Why should they all be held back because of small number of assholes?
I'd rather see impaired driving harshly punished and watched for. Every single person who drives impaired once should go to jail and never, ever drive again. And crack down on it hard. It's a far better use of police time than ticketing people going 10 over. Maybe even make bars have a security guard whose sole job is to prevent impaired driving.
I was absolutely including bars in my comment. I'm sure it's different in other places, but in the US it is very common that bars have parking lots and people drive there and then drive home after drinking.
I don't think there is a small number of assholes who drive impaired. I think that vast majority of people who go to bars in the US drink and drive because it is such a car-centric society no real good alternatives.
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?
Here we go again. People who don't want to drink alcohol can hang anywhere and still don't drink acohol. The unwillingness to drink alcohol or that "many people like it" are not actual arguments to introduce and use other health damaging substances rerdless of their nature and effects.