“The feedback has been amazing,” he said.

There is no heckling.

“It’s a different culture,” Griffin said.

According to lounge owner Shane Lafferre, he faced “a few challenges” opening a cannabis lounge in Brampton.

“Not surprisingly, even the City of Brampton tried their best to have me go away quietly,” Lafferre said in an email.

The city laid zoning bylaw charges against the business, saying it was not a permitted use.

Lafferre said that a court decision allowed him to open anyway, “without hindrance,” and he called the city’s bylaws “non-existent.”

But the city said zoning charges against Green Leaf are still before the courts, and the next appearance date is June 7.

Other cities have cannabis lounges that operate in the same way as Green Leaf, including Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa, where police say they respond to the lounges on a “complaint basis” only.

Lafferre said he met with a Peel police detective in the Major Drugs and Vice unit a month before he opened.

“He said it was better for the community for those who wish to consume cannabis… to congregate in a safe environment indoors instead of outside in public,” Lafferre said in the email. “He also informed me that if cannabis was not sold at the lounge there would be no problems from the authorities.”

Peel police had a different take on the issue when asked by The Guardian if that was the official position on the lounge. Police responded by saying possession and/or consumption of marijuana without a medicinal use licence is still a criminal offence and “will be investigated by Peel Regional Police accordingly.”

“Peel Regional Police does not condone or endorse any establishment that allows the illegal possession and/or consumption of a controlled substance,” police said in a statement to The Guardian.

As for concerns about impaired driving, Griffin said the lounge is no different than a bar, and agreed “people should be taking public transit or cabs.”

“Why do bars have parking lots?” he added.

He said not all patrons use marijuana while at the club, and there are sometimes as many as 10 just there for the comedy.

He agreed there is such a thing as a “contact high.”

“You do get it, but it’s not something that will last,” he said.