SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The doors to Maisha Bahati’s cannabis dispensary store will soon open. It is a new business she’s all in on.

What You Need To Know

  • Sacramento is considering legalizing cannabis consumption lounges

  • Those against the lounges say they pose a health risk to people work in them through secondhand smoke

  • Several cities around California already allow consumption lounges

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed cannabis cafes statewide, where food and drinks could also be served

“This has been a life-changing opportunity for me and my team,” Bahati said. “We’ve put so much into this. We’ve invested pretty much all we have. We are an independent business, so we did not receive any outside capital.”

Her company Crystal Nugs currently is delivery only.

With her new brick and mortar store, Bahati is hoping it will open up other cannabis business opportunities.

“This will be a room where you come in and be able to consume [cannabis] on site,” Bahati said. “We’re going to have entertainment. We’re going to have a VIP room. It’s an experience you’re going to want to try out.”

A cannabis consumption lounge, Bahati said, will be the second phase of her business plan, but that all hangs on the city of Sacramento allowing cannabis lounges to become legal.

A city committee recently voted in favor of allowing consumption lounges to open, paving the way for the full council to take up the proposal.

Bahati said these lounges will fill a much-needed void in the cannabis space.

“There is no legal place to consume,” Bahati said. “And so I do believe it’s a responsibility of the city to provide safe spaces where consumers can come and safely consume. Because many people can’t consumer at home. You can’t consume in hotels.”

Smoking cannabis in the state follows the same rules as smoking tobacco.

Even with a favorable vote by the city committee, Jim Keddy, the executive director for the nonprofit Youth Forward, said allowing the lounges would be a health risk for the people who work in them.

“We’ve done a lot of work to move away from having smoking in bars and restaurants and cannabis smoke is the same as cigarette smoke, similar to wildfire smoke,” Keddy said. “If you are breathing in cannabis smoke on a regular basis, you significantly increase your risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer.”

Bahati said she would install the required ventilating HVAC system, similar, she said, to what cigar lounges have.

Cannabis consumption lounges are already legal in several cities around the state.

Bahati said she’s banking on lounges happening and even dreams of food and beverages eventually being incorporated.

“I think we’re at the point where people want to consume socially,” she said. “We want it to be treated like a cocktail bar where you go and enjoy drinks with your adult friends.”

If that does happen, Bahati said she’s happy to work and listen with the community on concerns they may have.