Matt Maurer spoke to BNN Bloomberg on legal cannabis consumption lounges

Matt Maurer, Co-chair of the Cannabis Law Group and Chair of the Franchise Law Group, spoke with BNN Bloomberg on legal cannabis consumption lounges.

---

A handful of legal cannabis consumption lounges are beginning to pop up in Ontario, spurred on in part by entrepreneurial retailers looking to provide a little extra incentive for customers to drop by their stores as the industry awaits further clarity from provincial policymakers.

While they are far from the famous quasi-legal coffee shops found in Amsterdam or the high-end restaurants found in Los Angeles, they provide an initial view of how a legal consumption space looks like in Ontario, just less than three years after pot was legalized in Canada. 

 

Matt Maurer, a partner at Torkin Manes and co-chair of the law firm's cannabis practice, said much of the hesitation at creating these ad-hoc consumption areas are liability concerns, while it also doesn't appear to have much political support from policymakers who may argue that people can just consume their cannabis at home rather than a lounge. 

"The answer would be if there's a demand for it and we're starting to see that," he said. "Arguably the provincial and municipal governments would be better served to create a standardized set of rules that addresses any concerns they have rather than allowing these loopholes for stores or other businesses to be exploited."

 

---