the ESSENTIAL issue
The evolution of socializing will include consumption in public meeting places.
leafnationmd.com
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LOUNGING AROUNd T
he moment is seared into my memory. It was the mid-’90s and I was a bright-eyed 25-year-old in Amsterdam for the first time. I stepped into a “coffeeshop” and was immediately transported to a magical realm – one where I could order Cannabis from a menu and be treated like a customer instead of a criminal. Compared to what we went through back home to “score weed,” it all felt so … civilized.
FEB. 2021
I SAT DOWN and rolled myself a joint while watching people ride by on their bicycles outside, and I knew that things would never be the same. I couldn’t go back to the way things were in the United States without doing everything I could to change it. I vowed that one day we would see consumption lounges all over the world, so that everyone could know the true feeling of freedom. The first social consumption of Cannabis dates back to ancient times. Shamans of various tribes in Central Asia, India and the Middle East burned the flowers in rituals meant to induce a trancelike state. Hashish lounges have been a staple of Nepal and Afghanistan, as well as throughout the Middle East for centuries.
