The Bay State might soon become the Baked State.
Just months after Massachusetts voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, a state agency approved a policy Monday that would allow “marijuana clubs” to operate in the state, according to WBUR, Boston’s NPR affiliate.
Retail marijuana shops are already set to hit Massachusetts in June 2018, but the clubs would take it a step further.
Cannabis connoisseurs would be able to legally purchase weed, then smoke it on the premises as if it were alcohol at a bar.
Under current state laws, marijuana use is illegal in public, even though possession is not.
“If you look at the regulation regarding alcohol, there are certainly many places that consumers can go and purchase and consume alcohol [at] any bar, any restaurant,” Jim Borghesani, Massachusetts’ spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project, told the Daily Free Press.
“We really see no reason why cannabis shouldn’t be if not as many … cannabis consumers have that same opportunity to enjoy the substance of their choice in a safe setting.”
The approved policy also outlines a number of ways the clubs can operate safely. Marijuana servers would be trained like bartenders to ensure customers aren’t consuming too much and alcohol would be banned from the premises, according to WBUR.
While legal marijuana shops have become widespread in America, notably in Colorado and Washington, very few weed clubs exist in the states. The ones that do often operate outside of federal and state regulations.
In European cities like Amsterdam, pot-selling “coffee shops” have existed for years.