A handful of legal cannabis consumption lounges are beginning to pop up in Ontario, spurred on in part by entrepreneurial retailers looking to provide a little extra incentive for customers to drop by their stores as the industry awaits further clarity from provincial policymakers.
While they are far from the famous quasi-legal coffee shops found in Amsterdam or the high-end restaurants found in Los Angeles, they provide an initial view of how a legal consumption space looks like in Ontario, just less than three years after pot was legalized in Canada.
Laura Bradley, who opened The Bend Caf and Lounge next to her cannabis store in Grand Bend, Ont., said in an interview that she wanted to provide her customers and the local community with an area that would allow cannabis to be consumed safely and alongside staff who are experienced and can help explain the products.
The outdoor part of the cafe itself is located behind Bradley's licensed cannabis store and is shielded from the town's main thoroughfare to provide privacy with a capacity of about 50 people. As well, Bradley only allows cannabis that is purchased legally with an excise stamp and a receipt and doesn't permit anyone to bring in a product from the illicit market, she said. Representatives from the provincial retail regulator checked out her cafe area and didn't flag any concerns, she added.
"The bottom line was meeting customer needs and then finding a way to meet all the rules and put some extra ones in place just to be cautious," Bradley said in an interview.
While much has been bandied about the potential economic impact that cannabis lounges have, the reality is that there is little data to determine the benefit these consumption spaces will have on the Canadian industry. That being said, all signs point to growing interest and demand from Canadians to consume cannabis in a licensed and regulated establishment - be it an outdoor cafe, a restaurant, or an Airbnb-like retreat.
Ontario began looking at the viability of opening consumption lounges in the province through a public consultation process that began in Feb. 2020, but there are no changes to the province's cannabis framework expected at this time, according to Natasha Krstajic, a spokesperson for the Ontario Attorney General. Krstajic also couldn't provide a timeframe when an update to the province's consultation on consumption lounges would be disclosed.
Other provinces like British Columbia and Alberta have also begun exploring allowing businesses to open legal cannabis lounges although most of those efforts are in the exploratory stage.
For Richard Browne, adding some picnic tables in an empty lot right next to his Alchemy Canna Co. store in northern Toronto is part of a move to stand out from other competing pot shops and give customers an opportunity to "take a load off".
"We haven't really put our minds to it but we just wanted to do this sort of as an initial kind of idea and see how popular it is, but the next step is we would design something that's similar to the inside of our store," Browne said.
"We're doing everything we can to optimise the business, especially because there's so many stores, so much competition."
Matt Maurer, a partner at Torkin Manes and co-chair of the law firm's cannabis practice, said much of the hesitation at creating these ad-hoc consumption areas are liability concerns, while it also doesn't appear to have much political support from policymakers who may argue that people can just consume their cannabis at home rather than a lounge.
"The answer would be if there's a demand for it and we're starting to see that," he said. "Arguably the provincial and municipal governments would be better served to create a standardized set of rules that addresses any concerns they have rather than allowing these loopholes for stores or other businesses to be exploited."
While Bradley noted that she doesn't know if the cafe has resulted in a boost in sales for her retail store, she is optimistic that it will be the start of an alternative option for people who wish to unwind with a joint, rather than at the bar with a pint of beer.
"People that frequent this place appreciate not feeling like a leper," she said. "They feel like they have a space where they're welcome that's meant for them. What about the people who don't consume alcohol, are they not allowed to have a good time? People who consume cannabis don't want to be down a dark alley, hiding in the corner."
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