The United States’ first legal cannabis café has opened in West Hollywood, and people were queuing all the way out the door.
Some customers even waited more than an hour to get inside the Lowell Garden café, however many said it was well worth the wait.
Customer Kenneth Seligson from San Francisco told ABC7:
If I can hang out with my friends and enjoy cannabis under the sun in LA, I think everybody’s gonna have a real good time.
Customers in Hollywood can visit Lowell Garden café’s restaurant or the cannabis lounge. While they’re not allowed to smoke in the restaurant, they can order food from the kitchen and have it delivered to the lounge, where, of course, they can smoke.
According to the state, Proposition 64 – also known as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act – allows people to smoke indoors in the cannabis lounge.
The café allows smoking, vaping and even offers prepackaged edibles, however it has a strict 21 and over door policy.
Owner Kevin Brady told ABC7:
We’ve had people reach out from Russia, from Italy, from Mexico City that are planning their vacations here.
But we’ve also seen people that are excited to bring their grandparents in because they’re using THC to combat some forms of illness.
John Leonard, an official in the city, says neighbouring businesses have been welcome of the new café, with the exception of one owner expressing concerns about smoke and odour.
He said:
Throughout this process, we’ve had very little pushback.
Only one neighbouring business was concerned about potentially smell and smoke leaving the premises and drifting into other businesses. That’s not going to happen here.
Heavy-duty ventilation and filtration systems are in place to contain smells and odours within the premises.
Some people have expressed concerns over how police will keep motorists safe from anyone who might be tempted to drive while under the influence.
Leonard explained:
Law enforcement will handle it the same way they do alcohol and DUI. It’s essentially the same thing.
He said the city will encourage people not to drive if they are partaking in cannabis, but to walk, rideshare or find alternative means.
The city is expecting three more cannabis lounges in the next six months, with as many as 12 more in two years.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.