Governor Newsom signed the bill after his concerns about second-hand smoke were addressed.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1775 into law, which will allow local municipalities to begin permitting “cannabis cafes” to serve non-cannabis-infused food and drinks to patrons consuming cannabis on site.
Under existing law, cannabis retailers with consumption areas were able to sell prepackaged foods and beverages; this law expands that to include freshly prepared food and drinks.
In addition to legalizing cannabis retailers to sell food and drinks that don’t contain cannabis, licensees will be able to host and sell tickets to live events at their licensed premises.
Lauren Fontein, the founder of one of California’s The Artist Tree, is one of the many cannabis lounge owners who will now be able to provide dining, performance and cannabis experiences to locals and tourists alike. Fontein said, “The passage of AB 1775 has allowed The Artist Tree to execute on the consumption lounge concept we dreamed of 6 years ago, when we created the concept for our West Hollywood lounge. Our dream has always been to have an integrated cannabis consumption, dining, and entertainment venue that rivaled other popular Los Angeles dining and performance spaces. In addition to our original West Hollywood lounge, we recently opened our Hawthorne lounge just minutes from LAX. When we built out the Hawthorne location, we designed it in hopes that Bill AB 1775 would pass, and decided to build the store with an integrated adjacent kitchen space. We plan to quickly open up an onsite restaurant in Hawthorne to provide a novel and inviting restaurant and lounge space for nearby residents and the millions of tourists that travel to LAX each year.”
Smoke-free conflict
Newsom previously vetoed a consumption lounge bill in 2023 over concerns about the effects of secondhand smoke on employees. The language was amended, satisfying Newsom’s concerns.
“I commend the author (Assemblyman Matt Haney, D-San Francisco) for incorporating additional safeguards, such as expressly protecting employees’ discretion to wear a mask for respiration, paid for at the expense of the employer, and requiring employees to receive additional guidance on the risks of secondhand cannabis smoke,” Newsom wrote in his signing statement.
Not everyone was thrilled with the news. The Sacramento Bee reported that the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s managing director, Jim Knox, expressed deep disappointment with the decision.
“AB 1775 violates Proposition 64 (the 2016 California ballot measure that legalized recreational marijuana in the state), which explicitly states that smoking marijuana is prohibited wherever smoking tobacco is prohibited,” Knox said. “It also undermines the state’s smoke-free restaurants law and compromises its enforcement, thus threatening to roll back decades of hard-won protections of everyone’s right to breathe clean, smoke-free air.”
However, the Sacramento Bee also reported that the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council praised the measure, with UFCW Local 324 Secretary-Treasurer Matt Bell saying in a statement that the new law would boost the state’s consumption lounges.
“By allowing cannabis businesses to branch out in a limited capacity, we can strengthen California’s legal cannabis industry in the face of high taxation, restrictive regulations, and harsh competition from the illicit cannabis market. Legal cannabis businesses have been disadvantaged compared to bars, clubs and other venues that can serve alcohol, not to mention illegal gatherings serving cannabis,” Bell said.
Read more at Green Market Report