State Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, on Thursday announced he is rebooting his attempt to bring Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes to the city and state.
Haney said now is the time for California to be at the forefront of what could be a billion-dollar tourist industry that would rival the state’s wine draw.
Haney had previously introduced such a bill last year, which passed both the state Assembly and Senate, but was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom out of concern for smoke exposure to employees.
The new proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 1775, “empowers cities to choose to allow Amsterdam-style Cannabis Cafes where Californians can enjoy food, coffee, and entertainment while enjoying cannabis,” Haney’s office said.
Haney said he is working with Newsom’s office and the state Department of Cannabis Control to address the concerns of creating an environment for employees that protects their health. His proposed legislation would allow for cafes to spring up where legal cannabis smoking already exists, not the other way around.
“To be clear, we are not saying that coffee shops should be allowed to sell cannabis,” he said. “We’re saying cannabis shops should be allowed to sell coffee.”
The 2023 bill that was vetoed would have allowed dispensaries to add on cafes with local government permission. According to Haney, “consumption lounges” are currently legal in the state, but dispensaries are barred from offering non-cannabis items like food or coffee.
Haney said that last year’s bill garnered broad support from lawmakers, and indeed, it passed the Assembly with a 66-9 vote and the Senate with a 33-3 vote.
“The bill was widely seen as an attempt to level the playing field for the highly taxed and regulated cannabis industry that is being forced to compete in California with a thriving cannabis black market,” said Haney’s office.
In 2022, the Department of Cannabis Control said that the state’s illegal market generated $1 billion in sales. The California Tax and Fee Administration cited $5.3 billion in legal sales for that same year, down just over 8% from 2021.
Citing 2020 numbers, Haney’s office paints an even bleaker picture. According to the assemblymember, legal sales for that year generated $4 billion, with an estimated $8 billion made in the illegal market.
“It’s really about fairness and supporting businesses that follow the rules,” said Haney in a statement released by his office. “If we keep allowing unnecessary regulations to strangle California’s legal cannabis businesses, we’re just encouraging illegal drug sales and all of the problems that come with that.”
Haney said that the Netherlands was successful in countering its illegal cannabis market when it legalized its iconic cafes in the 1970s. These cafes — in a country 10 times smaller in size than California — also generate about $1 billion in tourist revenue every year, he said.
Should Haney’s new bill pass the Assembly, Senate, and ultimately the governor’s pen, each city or county would determine whether to allow them in their jurisdictions. Haney said San Francisco and West Hollywood already have plans in the process of approval or in place to support such licensing.
Amsterdam also has a red-light district. Let’s make prostitution legal while we’re at it, seeing how he wants to emulate a foreign city.
This is wrong on so many levels!
Let’s do a comparison:
What’s good. What’s bad.
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Pot dispensaries, haven’t there been deaths during criminal activity ?
Perfect, POT plus money in populated area, . . . . . what could go wrong ?
Wonderful combination for armed take over robberies.
Leave it to DEMs to further endanger the public.
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Was predicted here DEM’ fantasy tax revenue numbers would never happen and criminal element especially gangs would flourish thru illegal sales. DEMs layered on POT fees, permits and taxes making illegal pot cheaper.
DEMs running CA are so smart . . . . . . .
Might want to review campaign contributions to DEMs.
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Haney’s legislation will be as well thought out as Prop. 47.
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Yeah, I’m sure that for years dispensary operators all over California have been saying, “If only we could serve coffee. Then people would visit us from all over the Western hemisphere and we’d be as busy as Starbucks!”
It doesn’t make sense. Amsterdam-style Cannabis Cafes can sell cannabis and coffee but coffee shops can’t sell cannabis.
Lol, get them high, give them the munchies and then sell them food. What a great business plan I love it.
Picture looks like what I dig out of my garbage disposal now and then.
Have to admire warped humor of POT growers,
got people to smoke stuff that smells like roadkill SKUNK.
If he wants this, why doesn’t he move to Amsterdam. Don’t bring their things over here.
When I read the title my mind instantly thought it would have been Scott Wiener of SF proposing such a crazy thing. But it ends up being Matt Haney of San Francisco. He’s surprised me how crazy he’s gotten since he was elected. He must already be partaking of the stuff he wants to legalize.
I still don’t like their pushed to legalize magic mushrooms – we all saw that bad effect with the Alaska Airlines incident. Face it, weed and magic mushrooms are not ‘just like a glass of wine’ like the proponents try to tell us.
PS: I think the San Francisco politicians need to address their own horrible city’s issues before they try pushing all the bad stuff on the entire state!
That guy’s a total bong hit.
Why would a proprietor be interested in operating a business that would get robbed hourly?
Business-wise San Francisco is done. Residents know it, business knows it, LE knows it, conferences know it, heck even the homeless know it. It seems only our elected officials haven’t figured it out yet.
Schedule 1 narcotics good!!
Gun store to support second amendment rights bad!!
The founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves.
Why not make Concord into SF…world class shi**y.and since Concord is known as easy,night time burglaries of pot places will happen and they kill the police when they show up like they did in Oakland,.Concord police,you somehow deserve this
Our state has gone to hell.
Weed has been completely legal for what, 20+ years now? Anyone that wants it can easily go to any one of the hundreds of dispensaries around the Bay Area. I think many would be surprised of how many of their family and friends secretly partake in flower, edibles, THC/CBD oils and tinctures.
It’s not a gateway drug, Alcohol is. No one has EVER died from an overdose of Marijuana. They have from Alcohol, and all the other hard drugs easily available on our streets thanks to open borders. The only bad effect weed has, is those that use it recreationally (not for pain, appetite for chemo, etc) are lethargic and low motivated. There are exceptions, as I’ve known people that smoke 24/7, and own/operate their own business 100% effectively, and sometimes better than the average Joe.
If we’re going to cast stones at drug abuse, start with Alcohol. It’s responsible for more deaths than all drugs combined. But we won’t, because it’s been programmed across all platforms (movies, sports, commercials, camping, family gatherings) as “Everything is better with alcohol”.
If you consume alcohol several times a week, set a goal to abstain for just 30 days and see what happens. You won’t believe how different you feel on all levels.
I get the feeling that most here are into booze not pot for relaxation? Though I gave up my pot daze in the 1970s (after all I am a musician) I couldn’t find anything that wrong with other than the obtrusive laws set up against it in the 1930s having nothing to do with the weed but for control over sectors of the US populace.
Heavier drugs need education and consultation available so users can find why they want to use them. Most people that do those have a metabolic problem (actually also true with pot) which could be adjusted without medication and simple techniques including diet preferences and costing almost nothing. But doctors will reply “that’s too complicated!” (or maybe not profitable enough). Really? You went through medical school and it’s too complicated?
Oh yeah! I want more options of ways to get high… more opportunities and more situations where I can get sh*t faced. That is what’s really important to the betterment of society and personal growth. Let’s get blasted & groove into prosperity.
Plenty of productive, prosperous people enjoy pot responsibly. Still others don’t have what it takes. Lots of poor people can’t get ahead despite stone cold sobriety.
If you can’t keep your lights on whilst indulging, then don’t indulge. Pretty simple.
I’m willing to give this some consideration pending more details.
I would like a martini with my bong hit and afterward to have a coffee and a cookie. That could possibly double your revenue projections. Update the bill and make it a ‘lounge lizard style cafe’. Tourists will flood into the area. Like he said “It’s really about fairness and supporting businesses that follow the rules,”. He must be smoking something.