Good news has reached us. In the city of Portland the first “Amsterdam” style hemp Café has been opened. Portland has (sort of) legalized the possession of hemp under an ounce(a little under 30 grams).
The hemp Café has opened it’s door at precisely 4:20 p.m. last Friday afternoon and is the first coffee house in Oregon catering to licensed users of medical marijuana.
The new cafe, run by the Oregon branch of NORML, went into operation just weeks after the Justice Department announced that people who use hemp for medical purposes and those who distribute it to them will not face federal prosecution, provided they act according to state law.
It looks like nearly every other coffeehouse in town, with Wi-Fi access, Coffee, soft drinks, trays of Marsee Bakery pastries and sandwiches. The only difference is that shiny silver Volcano vaporizers are plugged into outlets lining the tiled bar and the familiar smell of medical hemp patients using their “medicine”.
The comparison to an Amsterdam coffeeshop doesn’t really hold up, as you can’t actually buy your hemp IN the hemp Café. Anne Saker from oregonlive.com explains:
“The only people permitted in the hemp Café are those licensed to smoke who also hold membership in the lobbying group Oregon NORML. Patrons will be charged $5 a day. They can bring their own or smoke donated marijuana. Oregon law says medical hemp may not be sold.”
Does this mean that for $5 a day a member gets free “donated” weed? So without actually buying the hemp you still get to smoke weed? Great!
Below a video of the opening of the hemp Café in Portland.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDxxCKIavbE]
