!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics --> Marijuana Business Magazine March 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine March 2020

March 2020 | mjbizdaily.com 101 lounge in December, during MJBizCon in Las Vegas, dovetailing off the established West Hollywood eatery. The restaurant’s launch, meanwhile, brought Lowell headlines in national publications. The idea of pairing a dining and cannabis experience isn’t new, to be sure. Some chefs, such as San Francisco’s Coreen Carroll and her husband, Ryan Bush, operate underground pop-ups that offer gourmet meals with infused products. Others, including Mason Jar Event Group in Colorado, host events where customers can consume marijuana while dining in a picturesque setting. But state and local regulators have been hesitant to allow a full-scale restaurant or cafe space where customers can use marijuana on site. “We are charting new territory from every angle,” David Elias, co-founder and CEO of Lowell Herb Co., said in November. “Our goal is to lead by example for the cannabis industry while creating the best experience for the community.” Clearing Regulatory Hurdles When it opened last fall, Original Cannabis Cafe was called Lowell Farms: A Cannabis Cafe. The establishment launched with Lowell Herb Co. as a main partner, but that partnership ended Dec. 1, when the cafe relaunched as Original Cannabis Cafe, independent from Lowell Herb Co. The public split came just before the California Depart- ment of Agriculture filed a lawsuit against Lowell Herb Co. alleging the business didn’t have a valid license while producing cannabis products in March 2019. “For business reasons, our Cannabis Cafe launched with a corporate sponsor, but now we are excited to focus on our goal of presenting our diners with as diverse a range as possible of cannabis from small, independent growers and entrepreneurs,” said Andrea Drummer, the eatery’s executive chef and partner. The restaurant has roots dating to 2017. In fall of that year, West Hollywood officials cleared the way for cannabis consumption site licenses. Cannabis industry experts provided feedback on an ordinance that allowed a total of eight establishments where smoking, vaping and edibles would be allowed. During the November interview, Elias said city regulators “worked with the county and state on legal matters” to help clear the zoning and licensing hurdles faced by others trying to open social consumption sites. In Denver, for instance, social consumption venues cannot sell marijuana products. Smoking marijuana inside also proves to be problematic in many places because of state laws governing clean indoor air. West Hollywood hasn’t waded into the uncharted territory of regulating dual consumption: Cannabis Cafe Behind the Scenes The city of West Hollywood played a major role in allowing the Original Cannabis Cafe to open last fall. California’s Proposition 64 allowed local jurisdictions to permit cannabis consumption lounges, but the rule didn’t provide details about how that might work, said John Leonard, community and legislative affairs manager for West Hollywood. “We’re one of the very few cities within the state that are actually permitting consumption lounges, and we’re really the only city in the state that is permitting consumption lounges that look like the ones we have here—that are serving food and are an entertainment location kind of a nightlife destination,” Leonard said. “It’s not just a room attached to a dispensary where you can go and smoke products that you’ve just purchased.” Unlike cities in other states that allow consumption lounges, West Hollywood allows people to smoke inside and outside social consumption areas. “Our regulation is actually pretty simple. It says that the odor and the smoke shall not be detected outside of the premises,” Leonard said. West Hollywood requires a ventilation and air-filtration system similar to those used in cigar lounges or casinos. The systems are meant to curb the smell of cannabis in neighborhoods where social consumption areas are located. The city planned to permit social consumption areas to serve food, but the state wouldn’t allow cannabis businesses to sell non-marijuana products with their retail licenses. “We’ve been working really hard with the state to try to reverse that and to find workarounds to it,” Leonard said. Original Cannabis Cafe is “the first test case” of a workaround. The cafe technically has two separate businesses on site—one that prepares and sells food and another that operates the consumption area. Customers get two separate checks: One for cannabis consumed on site and another for food that has been ordered and delivered from the adjacent business. “It’s a pretty seamless thing when you’re actually there,” Leonard said. “You don’t really notice it besides the fact that you’re getting two checks.” Similar workarounds might be possible for alcohol consumption, with customers buying drinks from one non- cannabis business and drinking in a designated area, then walking over and buying cannabis from another business and consuming in that space. Getting infused food into the cannabis lounges is trickier. All cannabis products need to be tested and labeled before they’re sold, so doing fresh infusions is not really an option. “What you could do is sell somebody a package of, let’s say, THC salad dressing that’s already been tested, and we know how strong it is,” Leonard said. “You could sell someone that package, along with just a regular salad that they order, and they could put dressing on the salad on their own, so essentially they’re infusing a cannabis product into their food on their own.” – Adrian D. Garcia

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