Wanting to open a bar beside a dispensary and can not find info on the rules.
What city and state? The rules are going to differ greatly.
This is Portland Oregon
Try here and here. Your best bet is to call the appropriate agency and ask. Or write your Congresscritter’s office.
That’s the type of question that’s going to be so wildly dependent on your jursidiction it’s going to be worth talking to your mayor or building inspector, licensing etc. Unless your local code gets into that kind of detail, it’s going to be worth getting an ‘official’ answer before investing too much.
One thing I’d do is see if there are any bars (an/or liquor stores, depending on how things are written) in the same strip mall as a dispensary. In fact, look at the local dispensaries in the area and see if any of them share a physical building (ie a strip mall) with anything else they’re not allowed to share a store space with. Bars, liquor stores, gun shops etc.
My WAG, without having looked, is that if the code just says they can’t be in the same store, you might be okay as long as the A and B parts of the building are totally sepearte, have their own entrances and there’s no shared areas. IOW, if you have go outside to get from one to the other.
There’s a poster in the second link that uses the phrase “liquor licensed premise”. I think that’s going to be what makes it okay (rules regarding how the spaces need to be separated might still come into play). Liquor licensees, at least by me, are pretty specific about things like addresses. If your liquor license covers 123A Main St, it’s not going to cover 123B Main St.
Also, on the marijuana side, part of the definition of premises includes “All areas outside a building that the Commission has specifically licensed for the production, processing, wholesale sale, or retail sale of marijuana items;…”
Again, that sounds to me like it would be okay. Make sure the map/drawing/description of “the premises” of the dispensary very clearly doesn’t include anything that’s part of the liquor store. If you have access to the liquor stores license application, make sure it doesn’t do anything that might include you.
But, still, talk to someone at city hall. In the end, they’re going to have the final say so it’s always easier to find out now if there’s going to be a problem. If you don’t want to reach out to them, try shooting an email to the local alder person for the district.
I wonder if there’s a difference between a bar locating near a dispensary and a dispensary locating near a bar.
The issue isn’t about them being near each other, the issue is that they [the city] doesn’t want THC and alcohol sold in the same store. Or more specifically, in the same physical space.
On first glance I read “distillery”, and was going to point out that a distillery I visit on occasion has a bar as part of their business.
Now, a dispensary is a whole different ballgame. In my state of Pennsylvania, the zoning laws for dispensaries and bars are very tightly regulated and even opening a bar near a preexisting bar is very difficult.
The OP needs to contact both the liquor control board of her state as well as the regulatory authority for cannabis sale.
While you’re at it, you might want to check if there’s anything restricting a dispensary’s proximity to video slots. I haven’t been to every bar in Portland, but the only one I’ve been in without gaming machines went belly up pretty fast.
Just curious: why do you want a bar and dispensary next to each other?
I don’t think she does. I think she just wants to open up a dispensary, but there happens to be a convenient location (low price, good location, whatever) that happens to be next to a bar.
Isn’t a dispensary more like a store than a bar/restaurant? Do people spend enough time at a dispensary to warrant video slots? Are customers even allowed to consume their purchases while at the dispensary?
Absofuckinglutely not.
I think the video slots thing was about the hypothetical bar next door having them, thus possibly putting another kink - or outright obstacle - in the process.
Coincidentally, I was thinking of starting a thread on this. We just came back from vacation, and while driving through Eureka, California (stoner heaven), we saw a dispensary which had a big sign prominently in the window: “YES YOU CAN SMOKE WEED INSIDE”. It was the Crisp Lounge, and here’s their website. I think we saw one other place that had a similar sign.
Mr. brown and I were discussing this as we drove. Did the rules change? Is this just in California, or nationwide? What gives?
I think a few states provide a path to licensing that permits on-site use (I seem to recall Colorado having this) but I’d imagine it’s heavily $$$ for the business.
Weed by itself isn’t even legal nationwide (as you know) and obviously rules vary widely by state, county and municipality. That’s not to mention that certain counties and municipalities choose to ignore existing rules. It’s clearly not nationwide and it’s not all of California. These guys specifically seem to be a bit ahead of the new law in CA allowing on site consumption that starts on January 1st but it’s still a matter of the local jurisdictions allowing it. There are areas of CA that are still completely dry.
To summarize the post above: The rules are entirely arbitrary.
Sheesh, CaNORML’s website shows there are plenty in California open now. I guess we’re jumping the gun.