This article was originally published on Cannabis & Tech Today and appears here with permission.
For centuries, cannabis prohibition did not exist at all. Thankfully, things are trending back in that direction, albeit slowly. In addition to the dozens of countries with medical cannabis laws, there are now three countries that have legalized cannabis for adult use.
Malta became the latest country to do so when lawmakers passed an adult use measure in recent weeks. Malta was the first in Europe to legalize.
Uruguay was the first on earth to legalize back in 2013 and Canada followed suit in 2018. Social cannabis use is permitted in some forms in all three nations.
Will Social Cannabis Use Become the Norm?
When people think about legalizing cannabis they often think of possessing, cultivating, and selling cannabis. While those are certainly components of full legalization, there are also other facets.
Social cannabis use is one of those facets. Social cannabis use is essentially when cannabis use occurs at a venue or an event.
It can either be an actual part of the business model, such as at a cannabis social hall where people pay to get in, or it can simply be allowed to occur on the property, such as a cannabis smoking section outside of a restaurant.
A “one-size-fits-all” approach to describing what social use is can be tough because social cannabis use can come in many forms.
If people can legally purchase cannabis, they need to be able to legally consume it somewhere, which can be tough at hotels and rental properties. Consuming openly in public is still taboo everywhere.
It’s why social use is a vital plank in the greater cannabis reform platform.
Industry Opportunities
Few sectors of the cannabis industry, if any, possess as much potential as social cannabis use. Cannabis tourism, which is going to be huge in the future, is just one component of social use.
Imagine a social business model and then apply cannabis to it. For example, many people like to play Bingo or video games. Now imagine a Bingo hall or arcade that also allows cannabis consumption.
Social cannabis use has the potential to make so many current businesses better, and lead to the creation of completely new businesses.
Obviously, there will be some limitations for safety reasons. Just as alcohol is not permitted to be combined with any and all activities, the same will be true for cannabis.
With that being said, many social use business models are straightforward and fairly cheap to start, which will lower the barrier of meaningful entry to the cannabis space for many people, and that is always a good thing.
