A San Francisco ordinance aims to clear the path for cannabis cafes in the city. Assemblymember Matt Haney on Monday announced that he and San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelmann are introducing a local ordinance that changes the rules for cannabis retailers in the city. The ordinance will amend the health code, police code, business and tax code, and planning code to enable cannabis retailers to prepare and serve food and non-alcoholic beverages at cannabis lounges. “We want to help the existing businesses, the existing legal businesses that are actually struggling,” Mandelmann said. “We’re giving them a little bit of a head start in terms of applying for these permits, but we also want to make sure that there are actually cannabis cafes and that if none of the existing retailers take advantage of it than maybe someone out there will.” The ordinance will also revise the planning code to allow cannabis retail lounges to occupy more than one-third of a retailer’s premises, enable the creation of new cannabis cafes where cannabis can be sold only for on-site consumption, and implement a phased rollout where initially only existing cannabis retailers can open new cannabis cafes. Cannabis cafes will remain subject to state and local permitting and zoning regulations for cannabis businesses. It has been over a year since state legislation opened the door for cities and counties to decide on cannabis cafes for themselves. ...read more read less