A bring-your-own marijuana vapourizing lounge has opened in Vanier to those willing to pay a $5 cover fee to socialize with other pot smokers, following the lead of other Canadian cities, including Toronto, Halifax and Winnipeg.

BuzzOn provides customers with vapourizer machines, which heats the marijuana enough to release the THC, the active ingredient in the plant, without burning the stems and buds. Users inhale the THC coming out of the machine through a plastic bag.

Manager Wayne Robillard said that while it's illegal to use marijuana unless you have a medical prescription, everyone is welcome. The house rules are no tobacco, alcohol or drug dealing.

"It's the same reason people would go to a bar — they want to be around other people who are drinking, and it's the same kind of concept here," he said.

I suspect if we do get into legal predicaments, we'll have a lot of help. - BuzzOn manager Wayne Robillard

Robillard, 51, said he's been smoking pot for decades.

"We look at it as a form of protest, to be quite honest with you. I've been smoking marijuana for almost 40 years. I've never been prescribed a licence. I asked my doctor, my doctor refused," he said.

Lounge not violating bylaw, zoning

Robillard said he believes the political climate is now favourable for a pot lounge — it's the first in Ottawa but not the first in Canada — and even invited Ottawa police to check out the business on Monday.

Police did not comment on the lounge other than to say information about it has been passed on to the appropriate people.

"We certainly are unaware of what exactly is going to happen, I'm not gonna lie," Robillard said. "But it's amazing, all the lounges in Ontario and the people within this community do tend to band together. And I suspect if we do get into legal predicaments, we'll have a lot of help."

The City of Ottawa's smoke-free regulations only address tobacco and tobacco products, said Roger Chapman, the chief of Bylaw and Regulatory Services.

City councillor Jan Harder said Tuesday that the use of marijuana for recreational purposes is a police matter, not a city matter. She said the building that houses BuzzOn is zoned as a "place of assembly," and as such is not violating the city's Planning Act.

BuzzOn is owned by a numbered company.