Supporters say that a more comfortable recreational weed culture will help reinvigorate California nightlife and boost profits for the state's highly taxed, highly regulated legal cannabis dispensaries, which compete with black-market sellers.
California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, but dispensaries that sell the substance legally remain less popular than the black market.
"Right now, our small cannabis businesses are struggling to compete against illegal drug sellers that don't follow the law or pay taxes", said state assemblyman Matt Haney, who authored the bill.
"In order to ensure the legal cannabis market can survive and thrive in California, we have to allow them to adapt, innovate and offer products and experiences that customers want", Haney continued.
Some cities like West Hollywood, near Los Angeles, have been calling for such legislation for years. The "cannabis cafe" model has been compared to Amsterdam in Netherlands, where the consumption of cannabis has been legal at coffee shops since the 1970s.
Not everyone is in favor of the move, however.
Public health advocates have expressed concern about the effect smoking cannabis in restaurants can have on lung health.
"Secondhand marijuana smoke has many of the same carcinogens and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke", read a statement from the American Cancer Society's advocacy branch. The new law "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".
Celtic’s unbeaten start to the season came to a shuddering halt as they were taught a Champions League lesson by a rampant Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. The latter routed the Scottish champions 7-1!
The only consolation goal for Celtic came from Daizen Maeda in the ninth minute.
It is BVB’s biggest winning margin in the Champions League alongside a 6-0 win away to Legia Warsaw in 2016.
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