Downtown Haverhill has an eclectic mix of places to spend an evening, from Damgueda Korean Restaurant to Vault 77 Lounge and The Tap Brewing Company. Now it’s poised to become home to one of the state’s first cannabis lounges, allowing people to legally consume cannabis outside private homes for the first time in Massachusetts.

Over the past few years, cannabis cafes have sprung up in the United States in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and other states. These coffee shops allow patrons to not only buy marijuana-infused products, but also use them indoors, just like people buy a cocktail at a bar. But even after recreational marijuana was legalized in Massachusetts in 2016 and dispensaries became commonplace, the state has been slow to allow consumption halls.

“When voters approved this, it confirmed that cannabis lounges will ultimately be the future of the cannabis industry here in Massachusetts,” said Caroline Pineau, CEO and owner of Stem, which became Haverhill’s first cannabis dispensary when it opened in 2020. “It has not been implemented until now.”