As the St. Louis Board of Aldermen’s new session begins, Ward 14 Alderman Rasheen Aldridge hopes to explore legislation to allow cannabis cafes and extend the hours dispensaries can legally operate.
Cannabis cafes would offer a place where people can smoke on site, likely in a special ventilated room. Aldridge says that while no bills have been formally introduced this session, he is working on legislation to make them possible.
This legislation, along with Board Bill 15 introduced by Aldridge to extend the operating hours of dispensaries, would help to bring in more revenue for the city as it faces a tumultuous budget year, he says.
The City of St. Louis is facing serious threats to its earnings tax and has announced a hiring freeze as it prepares for the worst-case scenario of losing that revenue. Aldridge says this inspired him to introduce the legislation to allow dispensaries to open from 8 a.m. to midnight so that they can bring in additional tax revenue for the city.
“These dispensaries have been a positive in the city of St. Louis,” Aldridge says. “Knowing that they close at 8 o’clock, we were just thinking
