420 with CNW — Proposed California Law Could Legalize Marijuana Cafes
The wave of cannabis reform that has swept across America over the past two decades doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. By April 2023, nearly 40 states had medical marijuana markets while close to two dozen states allowed recreational cannabis sales.
California legalized recreational cannabis in November 2016 and was soon generating billions of dollars in revenue and state tax from adult-use cannabis sales. With California now home to what is undoubtedly the largest cannabis market in the world, state lawmakers are currently working on a bill that would legalize marijuana cafes and allow the sale of both nonalcoholic drinks and food in legal cannabis retail establishments.
California’s state assembly recently passed a bill to legalize cannabis cafes in the state in a 59 to 9 vote before pushing the legislation to the Senate for discussion.
Such businesses started popping up in California a couple of years ago in regions such as Palm Springs, West Hollywood and San Francisco. Even smaller cities such as Ojai considered marijuana cafes as a means of boosting tourism and tax revenue in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
However, California law banned indoor smoking at the time and had regulations designed to keep workplaces smoke free for the health of employees.
Brad Rowe, a University of California, Los Angeles adjunct professor of cannabis policy, said in 2019 that the marijuana cafe segment was in its infancy and still mired with plenty of legal complications. The recent law could clear up most of these complications and allow the segment to grow without any regulatory obstacles.
Speaking on the floor, bill sponsor Assemblymember Matt Haney noted that the cannabis industry is currently struggling under the weight of high taxes, a surging black market and an oversaturated space.
California’s cannabis black market has proven to be an especially tough problem to solve as a large portion of the population still prefers to buy cheaper cannabis from black market dealers. Coupled with high taxes from the state and an oversupply of sellers in the market, many small cannabis businesses are struggling to stay afloat.
The new bill would provide businesses in the cannabis space with a new avenue for generating revenue via the sale of noncannabis, prepackaged soft drinks and foods at licensed consumption lounges or cafes. However, the bill prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol and tobacco at cannabis consumption lounges. It would, however, allow live performances in cannabis lounges and the sale of performance tickets to the public.
If this proposal becomes law, it could inject new life into struggling cannabis companies, and they, in turn, could ramp up their production to meet the increased demand for marijuana products. When such a rise in demand materializes, the benefits could trickle down to entities that are in the business of manufacturing the equipment used to grow marijuana, such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX).
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
The wave of cannabis reform that has swept across America over the past two decades doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. By April 2023, nearly 40 states had medical marijuana markets while close to two dozen states allowed recreational cannabis sales.
California legalized recreational cannabis in November 2016 and was soon generating billions of dollars in revenue and state tax from adult-use cannabis sales. With California now home to what is undoubtedly the largest cannabis market in the world, state lawmakers are currently working on a bill that would legalize marijuana cafes and allow the sale of both nonalcoholic drinks and food in legal cannabis retail establishments.
California’s state assembly recently passed a bill to legalize cannabis cafes in the state in a 59 to 9 vote before pushing the legislation to the Senate for discussion.
Such businesses started popping up in California a couple of years ago in regions such as Palm Springs, West Hollywood and San Francisco. Even smaller cities such as Ojai considered marijuana cafes as a means of boosting tourism and tax revenue in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
However, California law banned indoor smoking at the time and had regulations designed to keep workplaces smoke free for the health of employees.
Brad Rowe, a University of California, Los Angeles adjunct professor of cannabis policy, said in 2019 that the marijuana cafe segment was in its infancy and still mired with plenty of legal complications. The recent law could clear up most of these complications and allow the segment to grow without any regulatory obstacles.
Speaking on the floor, bill sponsor Assemblymember Matt Haney noted that the cannabis industry is currently struggling under the weight of high taxes, a surging black market and an oversaturated space.
California’s cannabis black market has proven to be an especially tough problem to solve as a large portion of the population still prefers to buy cheaper cannabis from black market dealers. Coupled with high taxes from the state and an oversupply of sellers in the market, many small cannabis businesses are struggling to stay afloat.
The new bill would provide businesses in the cannabis space with a new avenue for generating revenue via the sale of noncannabis, prepackaged soft drinks and foods at licensed consumption lounges or cafes. However, the bill prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol and tobacco at cannabis consumption lounges. It would, however, allow live performances in cannabis lounges and the sale of performance tickets to the public.
If this proposal becomes law, it could inject new life into struggling cannabis companies, and they, in turn, could ramp up their production to meet the increased demand for marijuana products. When such a rise in demand materializes, the benefits could trickle down to entities that are in the business of manufacturing the equipment used to grow marijuana, such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX).
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
