Imagine a cannabis café where diners can buy a marijuana-infused drink or snack. Or an outdoor concert where marijuana joints are sold and smoking is allowed.

This could one day become reality in Massachusetts. The Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday narrowly approved a policy that ultimately could allow marijuana to be sold at cafes and public events.

By a 3-2 vote, commissioners approved a framework for a social consumption pilot program, even as they warned that it will be a long time before the pilot actually goes forward, if at all.

“There is a strong desire to have this,” said Chairman Steven Hoffman. “I believe it’s the will of the people.”

The commission’s nine-person working group, tasked with crafting rules for social consumption, released a memo Thursday that envisions a pilot program, which would allow social consumption in up to 12 cities and towns. However, the policy still requires regulatory approval, legislative action and interest from municipalities.

Social consumption would give people a space to buy and consume marijuana legally outside of a home, similar to buying drinks at a bar. Advocates for allowing social consumption say it will let people use marijuana if they live in public housing, rent their home or live in any environment where smoking marijuana is forbidden.

Allowing social consumption could stop people from smoking on the street and could provide structure to an industry that already exists underground, for example with marijuana-infused dinners.

“Many (municipalities) are really supporting this because the events are already happening in their cities and towns, and they don’t know how to handle them,” said commissioner and working group member Shaleen Title. “They’d rather they be regulated.”

At the same time, law enforcement and public safety officials have raised concerns about an increase in drugged driving, the danger of overconsumption and whether marijuana cafes would provide a way for minors to get marijuana.

Currently, only four states authorize social consumption — Alaska, California, Nevada and Colorado.

Commissioners Britte McBride and Jennifer Flanagan voted against the policy.

McBride said she does not want to allow social consumption until there are better methods in place to detect marijuana impairment in drivers and until the state updates its laws related to impaired driving.

“I think at this point in time, the potential for harm outweighs the potential for good,” McBride said.

The commission initially considered social consumption in 2017, but deferred that discussion until retail stores were open. Now, as the commission prepares to update state marijuana regulations this summer, it is taking another look at what social consumption might look like.

Title said the goal of starting with a pilot program is to maintain tight control over what is allowed and to collect data to see which concerns are real and warranted, which are not, and whether there are unanticipated consequences.

After two years, regulators would evaluate the pilot program and decide how to proceed.

Location

The pilot program, as envisioned in the working group’s memo, would authorize social consumption licenses in up to 12 municipalities that choose to participate. The five municipalities with officials on the working group — Amherst, Springfield, North Adams, Somerville and Provincetown — would be automatically accepted, if they want to participate.

There would be two kinds of licenses: one for facilities where marijuana consumption is the primary use, like a marijuana café, and one for hosting a public event.

The regulations would not allow mixed use licenses for businesses like yoga studios or movie theaters.

Hoffman said the decision not to grant mixed use licenses now was part of a “walk don’t run” approach, in which regulators want to first allow more straightforward types of businesses, before considering whether to move beyond that.

It would be up to municipalities how many licenses of each type to issue.

Local officials say the decision to participate will involve conversations about pros and cons.

North Adams Mayor Thomas Bernard, a working group member, said North Adams is in the process of opening its first retail shop.

Bernard said he thinks the framework envisioned by the working group “would make it possible to do social consumption in a way that is safe and responsible.” But, Bernard said, “The risk is it’s new. Even if we look at other states, there’s still not a tremendous track record for how these things work.”

Working group member and Amherst Town Councilor Alisa Brewer said Amherst voters overwhelmingly supported marijuana legalization. But as a college town, officials want to think carefully about what the industry means for students, many of whom are underage or get financial aid that could be endangered by marijuana use.

If more than 12 communities apply, the commission would choose participants with an eye toward “socioeconomic, size, and geographic diversity.”

Bernard noted that things like ensuring transportation for impaired patrons will look different in a rural community compared to an urban city. Places with seasonal tourist populations might look toward enhancing canna-tourism or licensing one-time cultural events.

Social equity

The Cannabis Control Commission previously discussed limiting social consumption licenses to groups that have so far been largely locked out of the legal marijuana industry.

Under the proposed policy, licenses would be limited to equity program participants and economic empowerment applicants. These are people from communities disproportionately hurt by the war on drugs, including minorities, people with drug convictions and people living in communities with high drug arrest rates.

Commissioners decided Thursday that they also want to allow micro-businesses and craft cooperatives to participate, which are smaller, locally owned companies.

“It’s both our legal obligation and our moral obligation to make sure we include those groups,” Title said. “That we not just take it out of the underground market and hand it over to big companies.”

Title said she hopes event licenses in particular could benefit those groups, since it takes less money to hold an event than to open a store.

Public health and safety

The working group memo lays out detailed rules for ensuring public health and safety.

No one under 21 would be allowed into a social use facility or area.

Employees would have to complete a responsible server training program, where they would learn about impairment-related topics like potency, effects, absorption time and procedures to ensure customers are not overserved.

Purchases would be capped at a “reasonable portion,” defined as 2.5 to 20 milligrams of THC, and individual 5 mg servings would have to be marked. Customers would be given a card informing them of the potential length of time someone can be impaired from edibles.

Only marijuana purchased on-site would be allowed.

Take-out would be prohibited.

Each establishment would have to write a plan for helping impaired customers find transportation home.

One concern often raised with social consumption is the effect on employees who are exposed to secondhand smoke. The licenses would only allow smoking outdoors, at an outdoor event or in a designated area.

An indoor café could only offer edibles or vaping. Vaping would only be allowed with proper ventilation and if staff have a vapor-free room from which they can watch the consumption area.

“The goal is not to make it difficult for someone who wants to operate,” Bernard said. “But there are restrictions and guidelines someone will have to meet just as someone would have to follow all appropriate code issues if they were opening another social/recreational establishment, whether a coffee shop or tavern.”

What’s next?

The regulations still have a long way to go.

The commission must write and adopt the rules during a rulemaking process this summer, which will involve public hearings and a comment period. Commissioners left open the possibility that they could defer consideration of the rules until the fall to give staff more time to address specific issues.

There is also a quirk in state law that requires a citizens’ petition and vote before a town can authorize social consumption. The secretary of state has said no process for this vote exists.

There are bills pending to clarify the process. Commissioners say social consumption will not go forward unless the Legislature passes one of those bills.

Flanagan, a former state senator, warned that there is no guarantee lawmakers will act. Before voting against the policy, Flanagan said she does not want to give people “false hopes” that social consumption will move forward, when it may not get legislative approval.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who would have to sign the bill, has said he is generally supportive of a pilot program. Baker said recently that the issues around social consumption sites "are really hard and really complicated, and I think doing it on a pilot basis would make a lot of sense.”

If the bill passes, municipalities would then have to opt into the program. Businesses would have to apply for licenses, in a process similar to the one the commission now uses to license retail shops.

Hoffman declined to predict how long it will take before social consumption licenses could be awarded. Title said a year ago that it could be “years” until marijuana cafes open. She said she stands by that prediction.