The Current Situation for BC Cannabis Smoking Lounges – Latest Cannabis News Today

It’s been a bumpy road since day one and the pandemic has made the fight even more difficult; Cannabis consumption sites, also known as lounges, don’t have an easy time of it. As you can imagine, a respiratory virus is a serious threat to a smokers’ lounge. With that in mind, here’s a look at the current situation for BC’s cannabis lounges; the laws surrounding it, the effects of the pandemic and an update on who is still in operation.

The legality of cannabis lounges

Here’s a crazy concept: if you want to legalize cannabis, you have to give people a place to consume it. Cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018, but there are still no regulations for smoking lounges. Every cannabis lounge that has ever opened its doors has done so in a gray area of ​​the law; This is because they offer a service that is both illegal and necessary. However, this may not be the case for much longer …

Provincially Licensed Cannabis Lounges?

Last August, the BC Union of Municipalities announced that the province was looking for cannabis consumption rooms. “The BC Cannabis Secretariat plans to work with key stakeholders, including UBCM’s technical working group on cannabis policy, with a formal public and stakeholder engagement in the fall of 2022.” Although nothing has been decided or announced, UCBM has publicly made some policy changes announced that we can expect. According to UBCM, the following measures must be taken:

• Prohibit smoking and vaping indoors in public places;
• Prohibit minors in cannabis consumption rooms;
• Address drug addict driving;
• Preventing the involvement of organized crime;
• discourage the simultaneous use of cannabis and alcohol; and
• require recommendations from local and indigenous governments before the province approves cannabis sales.

Lounges during lockdown

At the beginning of the lockdown, cannabis companies were not considered material. But rational voices came and that changed quickly. Cannabis dispensaries remained open during the lockdown so they could serve the public. For smoking lounges, the decision to stay open or closed was left to the discretion of each organization. At first glance, you might have thought that the decision was easy. In reality, it had never been more difficult to do. The arguments for staying open were as compelling as those for closing. After all, when people buy weed, they need a place to smoke it …

Why stay open

• Providing a safe space for cannabis use is a community effort that people depend on. During the lockdown, smoking at home was restricted to a limited number of people; especially when there were children in the household.
• For some, shutting down would have meant never opening again. Operating in a legal gray area means limited access to resources and business solutions, including government subsidies and benefit programs. All organizations that were closed were financially on their own.
• Maintaining air quality is a concern that smoking lounges are very familiar with. Dealing with smoke and cleaning the air are an important part of the operation, so most of these places are equipped with industrial air washers. By adapting the floor plan, user capacity and filter change plan, safe operation during the COVID-19 pandemic could be feasible.

Why close

• Lower risk of exposure to Covid-19 for both staff and lounge guests.
• The community security department was tasked with enforcing the provincial health code. Before the pandemic, they shut down unlicensed cannabis companies. Staying open could have been both an excuse and an opportunity for enforcement action. Reopening a lounge that has been closed by the province is very different from closing it yourself.
• Staying open during lockdown raised liability concerns. The province responded with a promise to protect essential companies from any liability related to Covid. Since one could argue that lounges are illegal, these were legitimate concerns. It looked good on paper, but would the province end up protecting unlicensed smoking lounges?

Cannabis Culture – Open

Vancouver’s Cannabis Culture Lounge is currently open, but they have reduced their hours. To reduce the possibility of Covid exposure, surface hygiene and the cleaning schedule for staff have been significantly increased. In addition, patrons are asked to wear masks but can take them off when they are seated at their table. Since they do not operate a food service, the employees do not check vaccination records. Most of the time it seems like it’s going on.

Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club aka VCBC – Closed

The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club is a non-profit compassionate club that focuses solely on medical cannabis. From pediatrics to palliative medicine, they help anyone with a valid, incurable disease. VCBC membership includes free access to your private indoor smoking room. In more than 25 years of its activity, the VCBC has kept this room free for members, regardless of the legal consequences. Many from the city, province, WorkSafeBC, and Vancouver Island Health Department have tried to shut it down, but every attempt has failed.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the board of directors voted to close the safe consumption room. Due to the high number of immunocompromised members, the organization believed that nothing else was responsible. The risks were too great and could not be avoided. From today the room is closed.

Sometimes it can be really difficult to find a place to smoke a joint, especially if you are unable to do so at home. Regardless of whether it is for recreational medical purposes, unregulated cannabis lounges provide a safe place to consume cannabis. Despite all the challenges and the pandemic, it looks like lounges will stay here.