Temperatures are ready to hit triple digits for the summer and as Sacramento citizens find places to get out of the heat and have fun, there’s one important group being left out in the cold. 

 

In a recent article in the Sacramento Bee, cannabis advocate Seku Amen stated, “We love the outdoors here in Sacramento, so it doesn’t make sense that we don’t have a place for consumers to safely consume this product (outside), whether it’s flower or edibles.”

 

Reporter Marcus D. Smith points out that despite the nearly forty different retail stores in Sacramento where you can buy cannabis, consuming cannabis in any public area can get you a fine of a minimum of 100 dollars. Even though the state has a vague policy concerning consumption spaces, Sacramento has yet to establish its own local set of regulations.

 

The city’s Office of Cannabis Management has been considering a set of standards for introducing these kinds of spaces but as of yet, nothing concrete has taken shape. In Smith’s article for the Bee, Council member Katie Valenzuela mentioned how she’s already heard, “from many cannabis operators, particularly our equity participants, that this sort of activity could really help them achieve economic stability in the long term.”

 

The article goes on to discuss how business owners in cannabis constantly see visitors who would like to try out the capital’s green scene but have nowhere to do so. At the beginning of the statewide lockdown, Sacramento Business Journal stated that tourism in the City of Trees accounted for 4.06 billion in 2018. With summertime travel in full swing and everyone back on the roads, visitors to the Golden State’s capital can come to see cannabis at the state fair but will have a rude awakening when they try to sample some while on holiday. 

 

Equity operator Maisha Bahati put it plainly, “You can’t smoke in hotels, you can’t smoke in your rental car. You can’t smoke outside in public, you can’t smoke at the park. So where are you going to go?” Cannabis tourism is a growing field encompassing more than lounges, storefronts, and hospitality. The event scene in the industry is a powerful one and failing to work together only keeps tourist dollars from city coffers and pushes cannabis users back into a box that has already long since been crushed and put in the recycling bin.

 

Despite talks and public polls asking for support, many feel like the powers that be are taking too long to act on any changes. CBD retailer John Long told the Bee, “It’s like they hype us up with a meeting and say like, ‘hey we’re gonna do this,’ and then it’s just disappointment.” While Council member Valenzuela is empathetic, she knows something like this takes time and conversations with other areas that have seen success licensing consumption spaces in their area.

 

In places like Los Angeles and The Bay Area where they currently allow consumption lounges, the road has not been expertly paved. However, you cannot deny that creating safe, regulated consumption spaces is not only a way to raise revenue but as a sign of pride in the industry that continues to wake up every day fighting for our place in the garden.

 

The Artist Tree, Barbary Coast, The Woods, Moe Greens, each of these places strives to be a shining example for their city of how to welcome in citizens and tourists to try out an experience that should be no different than sampling an award-winning local pilsner or chocolate. Lounges should exist in Sacramento.  for no other reason than to highlight the rich cannabis scene that has developed in the capital

 

While the city leaves many waiting for decisions, one group has sought to figure it out themselves. 1111 7th St -Sacramento’s first private smoking space, says they’ve received some pushback but overall the response has been overwhelmingly positive. While visiting there recently, we couldn’t believe how on point the ventilation system and snack bar were.

 

Currently, the Office of Cannabis Management’s survey is closed, and results were supposed to be released in a June report sent to the city’s Law and Legislation Committee, however, as of right now the OCM’s website shows the meeting set for sometime in September.

 

WRITTEN BY MATT JACKSON