The law was confusing enough — and troubling enough — that some bars and restaurants decided it was safer to keep hemp-derived beverages off the menu.
At issue was a provision in the state’s recreational marijuana law signed last May that would have prohibited bar servers from selling a patron alcohol and THC beverages in the same five-hour period.
The first confusion was over when bars would start enforcing the “five-hour rule.” Some thought immediately after the bill’s passage, but the myriad effectiveness dates contained in the 300-page bill said it wasn’t to become law until spring 2025. Regardless, the larger issue was this: While a server might know that a patron who they’d served a beer to couldn’t then be served a THC-seltzer, they would have no way of knowing if other patrons had one or the other at another bar.
they would have no way of knowing if other patrons had one or the other at another bar
It would probably blow their minds if they found out that people already drink and do drugs at home before they go to any bar. I get that this is probably more about assigning liability than anything else, but it must be embarrassing for legislators to have to pretend that this matters for public safety or whatever.
Some people, I’ve heard, smoke weed outside of bars before or after drinking and there are even rumors that sometimes people use cocaine right in bar bathrooms. I’m sure legislators have never heard of anything like that, but I swear it’s true.
Around here tons of people use weed vapes openly right in the bar (depending on bar’s general vape policy).
Nah. Legislators go to strip clubs to do their cocaine.
It was the first thing I thought of having done my responsible service of alcohol certification to work in bars in Australia. Not that it prevents irresponsible service, but you are meant to be checking for specific signs of inebriation in order to selectively deny service to drunk people and adding stoned people into that mix will muddy the waters
Changing from a 5 hour rule to avoid giving it to inebriated person is so much cleaner and easier to do. How do track 5 hours really?
Who is sitting in a bar for five hours?
Alcoholics
I’ve gone to a few meetings at the bar I think
