Madison NORML

‘Weed bar’ attempts to circumvent smoking ban
Written by The Daily Cardinal
Friday, 31 March 2006

Image Joint Sessions, set to open next week, will feature a hookah room in the back. There is a $15 cover charge on weekends, but it also features an ‘All You Can Weed’ buffet.

The Madison Tavern League of Wisconsin is preparing to welcome another member while supporters and opponents of the city’s smoking ban prepare for a fresh topic of debate as a controversial new marijuana establishment prepares to open its doors at 20 W. Mifflin St.

Joint Sessions, located near Capitol Square is set to open to the public this Thursday at 4:20 p.m. It will be Madison’s first bar to not only cater to marijuana smokers by allowing them to smoke the drug inside, but also the first to derive a significant portion of its income from sales of marijuana and paraphernalia.

“While the City Council debates the future of Madison’s ban on smoking tobacco in bars, I couldn’t be happier to welcome this exciting new tobacco-free establishment to our neighborhood,” said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, whose district contains the bar. He lives within walking distance of it. “Joint Sessions truly makes me glad to be a Madisonian ... who works just blocks away.”

“Before the City Council passed the cigar bar exemption, the smoking ban nearly put me out of business,” said Brian Haltimer, owner of Maduro Cigar Bar, 117 E. Main St. “Fortunately for Joint Sessions, the ban doesn’t even apply in the first place. It’s really a brilliant business decision.”

As Joint Sessions’ owner, Ryan “Piper” McGrew, looked over the premises, he recalled his inspiration for Wisconsin’s first marijuana bar.

“I lit up at some halfway crispy place on State Street and they threw my ass out and I thought, ‘This sucks. I wish there was somewhere people could smoke inside.’ Then, it hit me,” he said.

“Of course with the smoking ban in place I’m going to have to be constantly on the lookout for tobacco,” McGrew continued, “and it’s going to be a pain making sure that those are cigarette-shaped one-ies and not cigarettes.”

Nearby businesses are anticipating Joint Sessions’ opening.

Just down the street, the Orpheum Theatre has announced special weekend showings of both the 1968 musical “Hair” and “Laser-Floyd” throughout the entire month of April.

“It’s great to see that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Madison,” Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said. “I think it’s safe to say that Joint Sessions has a bright future in our city. Unless, of course, we’re overlooking something.”