Author Topic: First-ever U.S. marijuana cafe opens in Portland (Read 80 times)

Elano · « **on:** November 16, 2009, 01:11:09 AM »

United State’s first-ever marijuana café has opened! The newly opened Cannabis Café is exclusively for certified medical marijuana users who are also standing members of the pot non-profit outfit NORML (National Organization for the Repeal of Marijuana Laws), according to multiple tabloid reports.

Cafe Rumpspankers, a coffee shop in Portland, Oregon that will soon carry the name Cannabis Cafe, officially opened for business on Friday, Nov. 13, providing certified pot users with a venue where they can get hold of and smoke the non-addictive drug, says a report from CBS.

First pot café in U.S. history
The one-of-its-kind café is not exactly open to the general public, but any Oregon resident who holds an official medical marijuana card as well as any NORML member can come to obtain and smoke the drug, as long as they stick to state laws and smoke out of public view, the reports says.

"This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members," CelebrityCafe.com quoted Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML, a non-profit organization that works to reform marijuana laws, as saying.

"Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana," Martinez further said. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis."

Café will test new Obama policy
According to Reuters.com, The Cannabis Café will be an early test of a new relaxed policy by President Barack Obama regarding medical marijuana users.

The policy, handed down last month by the Obama administration, restricts federal attorneys from prosecuting patients who use Marijuana for medical reasons and dispensaries in states that have legalized them.

Although the medical use of the drug has been legalized in some other states, such as California and Colorado, their laws only allow dispensaries.

In order to gain access to the Café, potential patrons have to pay $60 as the cost of a yearlong membership in NORML, first month’s membership at the cafe, plus an entry fee.

Members can bring their own pot or smoke donated marijuana from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oregon law restricts the sale of medical marijuana in the state.

No liquor at the café
The café has yet to acquire a liquor license, however, it conveniently serves food.

On the grand opening of the cafe, reporters invited to the establishment could smell the drug, but were not allowed to see people smoking marijuana.

"I still run a coffee shop and events venue, just like I did before we converted it to the Cannabis Cafe, but now it will be cannabis-themed," said Eric Solomon, the owner of the café.

According to Reuters, Solomon is looking forward to holding marijuana-themed weddings, film festivals and dances in the second-floor ballroom.