Inside the U.S.’s First Cannabis Cafe
October 17, 2019With every election cycle, a new state seems to legalize recreational marijuana. California was the first state to make it legally available for medicinal purposes and one of the first to make recreational use legal. It’s no surprise, then, that Los Angeles is the home of the country’s first cannabis cafe, Lowell Cafe. It’s owned and operated by Lowell Farms, a brand best known for their packs of pre-roll joints seen at various dispensaries and Hollywood events. It officially opened on Oct. 1 and is the first of eight cannabis cafes set to open in West Hollywood in the next few months. They, and the city, hope to create a model for the next level of cannabis tourism.
Their website proclaims: “The end of prohibition is here”—which is the basis of their mission. For decades, marijuana enthusiasts have been forced to partake in the shadows (or in our cars), away from public view as if smoking is shameful. Yet cannabis is the most widely used “drug” in the world and according to a 2017 study one in seven people in the United States reported using marijuana. Walk through the streets of most American cities and you’ll catch a whiff of the sticky-icky.