"I have never been a weed tourist. I went to #Amsterdam a long time ago, but that was back when I was too young to fully appreciate what Amsterdam had to offer the world. Instead, I went to museums with my parents. #Museums. What a goddamn waste.
Lucky for me, my home country has Amsterdam-ified itself in the ensuing decades, legalizing weed across dozens of states, with more to come. Given the course of both politics and industry over this century, this is a miracle: perhaps the greatest thing our #government has achieved in my lifetime. And I know you’re like, “OK Drew, but they killed bin Laden.” True. But would I un-kill that man in exchange for weed being legal in every state in every way? No comment.
Weed is now legal where I live in #Maryland, but it’s not quite #California Legal. I can’t just waltz into any #dispensary in Maryland and start puffing away, and not every dispensary here allows customers without a medical marijuana card to buy everything in stock. Because of all that, I’ve never smoked weed in a legally designated safe place, except for that one time I hung out with #SnoopDogg, which doesn’t count because weed is spiritually legal anywhere Snoop Dogg is present.
This is where working for a San Francisco publication comes in handy. California, befitting its stature as our coolest state, has fully legalized recreational marijuana. Even better, a number of dispensaries in the Bay Area have adjacent “#consumptionlounges,” which I will always refer to as hash bars even though I still kinda don’t really know what hashish is (and I’ve smoked it!). My editor asked if I wanted to test out a couple of these bars to see if they’re actually worth patronizing, or if they give off the kind of desperate vibe usually reserved for off-track betting parlors. Twist my arm, sir. Let’s go to the hash bar and find out. Follow me!
But first, a quick clarification. These consumption lounges are not full-service cafes. They can’t sell food, or even nonalcoholic drinks like Amsterdam’s weed cafes. A proposed bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed last year, which just passed the state Assembly again with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, would allow these spaces to actually sell food alongside #gummies, pre-rolls, dimebags, dabs and weed-infused blocks of gouda cheese. So for now, Cali’s current hash bars don’t tick off every box on a stoner’s wish list, but they can offer a tantalizing glimpse of what a fully armed and operational weed scene could look like. Plus you can get high as balls, which I’m about to do right now.
The hash bars" - SFGATE
#Author | #Artist | #Media Personality | #Cannabis Professional and #Advocate
1moFrederika M. Easley