If anything, cannabis seems like a much better (and more profitable) drug around which to build a leisurely establishment.
Dutch coffee shops, you mean?
One or two every block in the old city center.
“the” old city center 🙂 The Netherlands is quite a bit bigger than the Amsterdam tourist trap 😁
That’s the trend I wish would emerge in the U.S.: lots of small spaces to hang out in like that
I’m trying so hard not to go on my /c/fuckcars rant right now.
The difference is you can’t taste other people’s alcohol but you can smell others’ smoke
People who are going to a place to smoke typically wouldn’t mind that. Take cigar or vape lounges, for instance. Also it’s usually people who don’t smoke weed who act like the smell of weed bothers them.
right but my point is if a group of friends want to go to a bar and some people don’t smoke or like the smell of smoke then there is a problem, it’s not like they can just opt not to smell smoke
Then don’t go to a weed bar, I guess. Laws are unlikely to allow weed and alcohol in the same place any time soon… though that already happens illegally at concerts and many bars I’ve been to. But people at the bars usually smoke outside. Colorado gov’t acts like all hell would break loose if people smoke and drink at the same time.
…that’s why you would only go to a place like that if everyone is down. Having them for people that want to go is fine, no one is forced to go.
That sounds nice in theory, but in reality the result is usually that if the majority of a group smokes, the nonsmokers don’t have much of a choice except for looking for new friends. That was a very common complaint when smoking in pubs and restaurants was still legal here.
Just because one person doesn’t want to go to something doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exist. You’re basically saying one person’s opinion/choice outweighs an entire group. If those choices constantly put you at odds with the group it might be best to find a group that aligns with your values more. There’s also nothing wrong with being friends with the people that want to go to things you don’t like, just tag along when they do things you do like. You also don’t have to have one set of friends, you can have multiple groups that like to do different things. I’m not pro banning things for the sake of others that can choose not to participate.
That line of arguing is exactly why it doesn’t work. And in general I agree that banning things because someone else doesn’t like it is wrong, getting rid of smoking wherever possible is better for everyone, including the smokers.
For what it’s worth, pretty much everyone here in Austria agrees that the ban on smoking in indoor establishments was a good thing. It’s just so much better to come home from a night out and not reek like smoke so badly that everything you touch will smell for days.
Well if low THC vapes and flower carts become common enough, we could see it become much more socially acceptable over time.
The problem is how to shift public perception of it as an anti-social behaviour towards a more acceptable vice that doesn’t necessarily have to affect others good time
Well you would go to an alcohol bar. There’s more than enough of those already.
and drunk people can be annoying and it is hard to opt out of being around them at the bar
You can certainly smell other people’s alcohol. Most pubs reek of cheap beer
Some establishments yes, but in most places I would not smell alcohol unless someone spilled it all over the floor. It’s anyway much less compared to smoke that will stick to your clothes
Edibles might make it better. But then you’ll need to give people something to do for an hour or so before it kicks in…
You mean like eating, playing board games, and socializing?
Dry vaporizers (with temperature below 200C) don’t have smoke so are a lot less offensive with smell, if not odorless particularly with access to fresh air.
Also people smelling of alcohol, particularly if they are drunk or drinking liquor, is definitely a thing. Also barfing. I wouldn’t doubt bars having bad smells sometimes.
Thanks for the shameless plug opportunity for m/dryherbvapes!
Yep that’s the 21st Century way to party. Smoking tastes almost disgusting after making the switch.
Bars could have bar-top vape systems and you could bring your own plant materials or buy there, but you would probably have to buy a disposable nozzle for the vape systems. Each patron could use a clean disposable tip for their visit to minimize germs.
Depending on the the vaporizer tech, I could see BYOB (and a bit of auto-cleaning) being a thing. Meaning bag, bowl, or…
Also personally I have my own mini-“pipe” that I carved, the balloon bag slots into it and it has a carb hole for air-mixing (also it can fit the direct draw/whip mouthpiece into it too, diff orientation). So it’s a personal mouthpiece.
there are THC drinks where I live, always a nice option for me to have at gatherings as a non-alcohol person.
Right but you can consume cannabis in tons of different ways - cookies, cocktails, etc. Restaurants had smoking areas for decades with far worse air filtration systems.
that’s just a “coffee” shop in Netherlands
Yeah I did this exact thing often in my early 20s.
and many are actually cozy, comfortable places. and no bachelorette parties!
That’s already a reality in some places. San Francisco, New York, and Amsterdam are some examples.
Add Spain to the list.
One can find a ‘coffee shop’ in nearly any city in the Netherlands. The first was Mellow Yellow in Amsterdam. They opened in 1972. From that point the formula they had, (by selling the cannabis themselves instead of the 60s, dealers hanging around in a bar who would often sell hard drugs as well), spread slowly around the Netherlands into the coffee shop culture we have today. Couple of years later in '75 our government started decriminalizing soft drugs. Early 80s a tolerance policy was set up, so coffee shops were still illegal, but could go about their busyness freely if no involvement with selling hard drugs.
Some medical dispensaries even had this vibe years ago.
This is quite common in The Netherlands. They’re called coffeeshops.
They are usually not very cozy though since they are barely legal and they don’t want to get too much attention.
Some coffeeshops have men with purple hats standing in front, essentially advertising the place. Not to mention all the big signs saying this is a coffeshop, with customers sitting outside on benches and smoking weed in plain sight. It’s definitely possible to find coffeeshops with boardgames, although they are not very popular, since I guess most tourists aren’t into that, and most locals can just smoke and play boardgames at home.
Since I’m getting downvoted here: what I wrote is based on my experience in the Zuid Holland region. It might be different in other places of the Netherlands.
I went to one in Thailand. Got to borrow a bong and play billiards and Uno and stuff, it was a real nice and comfortable little place
Your dealers home: Am I a joke to you?
Dealer? What’s a dealer? Is that something I’m too Canadian to understand?
It’s the guy with weed 30-40% less expensive than the guv’mint stores that also happens to be better quality 9/10 times.
(I kid to a point - I use dispensaries too, because what’s not to like about picking up weed AND milk on a mini-mall grocery run - but seriously the market value for unregulated weed has plummeted something fierce since legalization. And what I’ve tried is pretty damn good).
Eh depends on the province. Ontario is great. Quebec did a characteristically Quebec thing by saying that cannabis products couldn’t be “appealing”, so now they literally sell cannabis cauliflower and these gross granola bar-like things. Does way more harm than good, but they won’t hear it.
That was the cool place 20+ years ago, not so much now.
California has a few of these and they’re awesome! Ive seen them in Humboldt county and LA
Definitely sounds like something that would be in Humboldt.
There are a number of coffee shops exactly like that in Cape Town
I like to get and be high alone though
Speaking as a smoker: it’s a great idea until someone manages to start a fire (or deliberately sets one.) Also smoky interiors get uncleanably grimy FAST.
People smoked cigarettes indoors forever. Fires where not a big issue in bars.
There are some board game cafes in the states. And some of those overlap with legal weed :) but smoking indoors in public is still a no-go
More friendly environment w/dry vaporizers (bag, whip, or portable/extract) so there’s no smoke (and note the lack of lasting/scented steam clouds that people hate about flavored vape pens). Also edibles and the like… but that just time-delay dosed food.
I would say that drinking is a longer/more gradual experience so has more reason for a dedicated space. Though I guess the passable options that I mentioned could draw the experience out, but I’ve never done that so I’m not sure what that’s like compared to one-and-done/hanging-out-when-high.
(though as others have said, it is a thing)
we have cannabis lounges where I live. it’s mostly for tourists that cannot consume in their hotel rooms. no outside products allowed, a menu is provided along with rigs, vaporizers, bongs, etc.
I need to know where I could find lounges like this, for research reasons.
Lol, they’d have the busiest kitchen in town.