Newsom signs bill legalizing Amsterdam-style cannabis cafés in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California will soon allow cannabis cafés, where patrons can eat food, smoke marijuana, and watch live performances, similar to those in operation in Amsterdam.

On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1775 into law.

The bill's author, Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), said the legislation was aimed at allowing retailers to diversify their business and boost the state’s legal cannabis industry.

AB 1775, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, will permit licensed cannabis retailers to sell hot food and non-alcoholic drinks and also host live events like concerts.

Under the current law, those businesses are restricted to selling only prepackaged snacks and drinks.

The bill has received strong opposition from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), which said the law will effectively allow cannabis consumption sites to turn into restaurants where smoking is allowed. 

The group accused the governor of failing to protect the health of Californian residents.

"AB 1775 violates Proposition 64, which explicitly states that smoking marijuana is prohibited wherever smoking tobacco is prohibited," ACS CAN's California managing director, Jim Knox, said. "It also undermines the state’s smoke-free restaurants law and compromises its enforcement, thus threatening to roll back decades of hard-won protections of everyone’s right to breathe clean, smoke-free air," Knox added.  

The group also said that secondhand marijuana smoke has the same carcinogens and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke and can lead to serious health problems including cardiovascular and lung disease.

SEE ALSO: No charges for Oakland police officer linked to Antioch grow house

Last year, Newsom vetoed a similar bill, citing concerns that it conflicted with California's smoke-free protections in the workplace.

In his signing message on Monday, the governor said, "I commend the author for incorporating additional safeguards, such as expressly protecting employees discretion to wear a mask for respiration, paid for at the expense of the employer, and requiring employees to receive additional guidance on the risks of secondhand cannabis smoke."

Newsom stressed that local jurisdictions must work to enforce rules to ensure and prioritize worker safety and warned that if "adequate protections" are not established, steps may be taken to reconsider the law.