Medicating Lounge

A Medicating Lounge refers to an area located in some Medical Cannabis dispensaries where patients may medicate and sample cannabis. Often, however, the actual partition which separates the actual dispensary from the lounge is nothing but a short wall or even hanging beads, but it might also be a completely separate room.

As opposed to a cannabis coffee shop, where any person over the age of 18 may purchase and consume cannabis, Medicating Lounges are only located inside medical marijuana dispensaries, and accessible only by people who have a proper medical referral for using cannabis.

The concept of "safe access" entails providing a safe environment for consuming medical cannabis, virtually guaranteeing a patient a safe place to use medicine, and sometimes returning patients are not required to make a purchase to use the lounge again. Also, patients may return product they aren't satisfied with after sampling it in the medicating lounge.

The dispensary may provide high quality bongs and vaporizers for patient use, couches and/or chairs, TVs, music, and also might display psychedelic artwork on the walls. Indoor landscaping is also commonly used to decorate lounges.

Other lounges, notably the Bulldog coffee Shop in Oakland, may be the focus of the dispensary altogether, serving food, and even playing live music.