On Friday the 13th, at 4:20 pm, the first Cannabis Cafe opened in Portland, Oregon.

The Cafe is not open to the general public but serves instead their members who are legally able to obtain and smoke medical Marijuana.  Oregon is one of several states that has passed laws in recent years allowing the cultivation and sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes only.

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“This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members,” said Madeline Martinez, Oregon’s executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization.

“Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana,” said Martinez. “We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis.”

The cafe — in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and adult erotic club Rumpspankers — is technically a private club, but is open to any Oregon residents who are NORML members and hold an official medical marijuana card.

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Taking advantage of the Obama Administrations recent position on not prosecuting patients, or the Cafes and dispensaries that supply marijuana for medicinal purposes, NORML hopes that more places like the Cannabis Cafe will open.

Until then, if you legally can, stop on by the Cannabis Cafe in Portland where…

Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity cafe. They don’t buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from “budtenders”. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor license.

“I still run a coffee shop and events venue, just like I did before we converted it to the Cannabis Cafe, but now it will be cannabis-themed,” said Eric Solomon, the owner of the cafe, who is looking forward to holding marijuana-themed weddings, film festivals and dances in the second-floor ballroom.

Finish the story at Reuters

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On Saturday the 14th, NORML will be broadcasting live from the Cannabis Cafe.

Oregon NORML’s Madeline Martinez is taking advantage of that and the fact that any cardholder may freely exchange medicine with any other to create a private, members-only club for medical marijuana patients to socialize and medicate.  We’ll speak to these patients and hear their medical marijuana stories, as well as taking questions from the live audience and our callers.   Join us  Saturday Night, live, here from 9-11pm Eastern / 6-8pm Pacific.

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Huzzah to the people of Portland, and to the Obama Administration for taking the first steps toward making Marijuana legal for everyone, and hopefully those who can legally have it won’t get hassled by the Feds anymore.    Hopefully…

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