Cannabis-friendly cafe owner hopes Edmonton law catches up with vision of selling on site

A new cafe coming to Whyte Ave hopes to one day sell cannabis and allow customers to enjoy it in-store. CTV News Edmonton's Curtis Goodrum explains.

A new cafe coming to Edmonton is hoping to become the city’s premier joint for all things cannabis.

Whyte Avenue’s incoming New Amsterdam Cafe wants to both sell and allow its customers to consume cannabis products - edibles and infused drinks, namely - on its premises.

Business owner Todd Hauck says he wants to introduce a lounge for legal marijuana-lovers to meet and mingle in Edmonton. A similar cafe under the same name and ownership is currently running in Vancouver, B.C.

While Edmonton’s New Amsterdam Cafe will be considered pot-friendly, customers are not actually allowed to buy or consume cannabis on-site.

Hauck hopes law-makers can change that.

“A cannabis-friendly, community friendly, simple coffee shop and simple restaurant and cafe that is very friendly and very set up within the cannabis community … We have to wait for legislation to catch up before we can start offering those products to our customers,” he said.

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, the city said it would begin its own consultation and engagement process if the province ever chose to allow cannabis lounges to operate.

Area Coun. Michael Janz did acknowledge that Whyte Avenue has, historically, been home to “the wicked and weird.”

“I think we’re seeing changes in drinking culture, changes in demographics, changes in people’s habits,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

But Alberta service minister Dale Nally said in a statement that cannabis consumption spaces were prohibited, and there were no plans to change that fact “at this time.”

The New Amsterdam Cafe is set to open – without on-site marijuana consumption – in June.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum