The quintessential VIP experience is something every growing up watching hip-hop music videos wants to take part in. Stretch hummer limos dimmed with black lights and filled with the entire crew and a gaggle of girls popping bottles with blunts in rotation. Even if you’ve been to a cannabis industry event, there’s a good chance you ended up around the block doing bong rips and dabs inside of a bus. Well, lawmakers are putting the kibosh on cannabis use in California party buses in the wake of cannabis tourism’s rise and fear of limo and bus operators driving while impaired by first and second-hand cannabis smoke. (Contact highs are definitely a thing.)
SB 625 and SB 684 were the two competing bills California considered on this matter. Each one sought to reduce limo and bus operators exposure to cannabis but in completely different ways. SB 625 allows use on the buses, but only after meeting a stringent set of guidelines. These included a sealed or separated compartment for drivers, signage warnings, and an employee (not including the driver) chaperoning consumers. However, that wasn’t good enough for Cali legislators who decided SB 684 was more their speed as it completely bans the use of cannabis inside of limousines and party buses.
While this surely puts a damper on cannabis industry events, it may actually be safer in the long run. The jury is still out on if cannabis legalization increases or decreases traffic fatalities. Discrepant data points to both trends, depending on which studies you read.
California party buses may have taken a hit, but cannabis lounges are still on the come up. Several Sunshine State boundaries including Hollywood and San Francisco have plans to open cannabis-friendly hangouts. Its obvious lawmakers aren’t fully against public consumption. Rather, they’re taking a cautious approach to the subject as cannabis consumption research solidifies.
