Since Washington State law forbids cannabis cafes, I’d been wanting to visit Barbary Coast, San Francisco’s first pot smoking lounge, ever since it opened in early 2018. On a recent trip to the Bay Area, I got my chance.
I took a friend with me. We checked in at the front desk, where our IDs were scanned into the dispensary’s system, and then waited in a long line to buy some pot. According to Omar Figueroa, a California attorney specializing in cannabis law, that state’s admittedly “weird rules” allow for cannabis consumption lounges so long as there is “local approval.” As for licensing, “The state doesn’t really license it, but it has to be with a licensed dispensary,” Figueroa said.
We got to the front of the line and looked over a weed menu with a budtender. Prices were considerably higher than Washington’s, with grams starting at $10 and going for as much as $25, and eighths selling for as much as $75. My friend and I decided on buying a top-shelf $25 gram of high-sativa pot. Probably a bad move, in retrospect.
