Portland, Oregon Opens First Cannabis Café

The first marijuana cafe in the U.S. opened its doors this week in Portland, Oregon, offering consumers a wide variety of marijuana-related health options and a place where they can freely use or consume their marijuana.

The cafe's menu includes the usual staples found in most coffee shops, but all with a special ingredient.

The cafe also offers courses about marijuana’s medicinal properties and how best to grow marijuana.

The owners say that more than a public restaurant, their aim is to create an exclusive establishment, like a club, where people must become members and enter with an official medical card licensing them for the consumption of marijuana.

Many states and cities in the U.S. have legalized marijuana for medicinal use, but with a doctor’s prescription. But federal laws outlawing marijuana use - for any reason - have always trumped state and local laws, until the arrival of the Obama administration.

In Chile, marijuana is considered a “hard drug” by state authorities and its use or possession can lead to a stiff jail sentence.

Rightist presidential contender Sebastian Piñera in Monday’s debate said he would not soften Chile’s marijuana laws if elected, while independent candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami says he favors legalization, but only if a national review of the issue determines it would be in Chile’s best interest. The position taken on the issue by presidential contenders Eduardo Frei and Jorge Arrate is not clear.