Oregon Campaign To Legalize Cannabis Social Lounges Prepares To Submit First Signatures On Way To 2026 Ballot
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A campaign in Oregon to allow marijuana social lounges has cleared an early checkpoint on its path to the 2026 state ballot, with organizers recently announcing that they’ve collected enough voter signatures to advance the measure to the next stage of the process.
The Oregon Cannabis Cafe Coalition (OCCC)—a Portland-based group that advocates for the legalization of smoking lounges and cafes where consumption of infused edibles is permitted—says its now collected more than 1,400 signatures, which will be submitted to state elections officials.
Organizers need to submit at least 1,000 validated voter signatures in order for state officials to prepare a ballot title and summary for the proposal. At that point, the campaign could move on to the main signature gathering effort: collecting roughly 120,000 voter signatures to qualify the initiative for the November 2026 general election ballot.
“As of right now, I have taken copies of all the signatures, and we are about to turn them into Salem where they will verify if the signatures are valid and meet the minimum requirement of signatures obtained,” Justyce Seith, OCCC’s founder and the chief petitioner for the Oregon Cannabis Social Lounge Act, told Marijuana Moment this week.
“If signatures are approved,” she added, “they will start drafting the title for this initiative and we will begin our journey to collect the required amount of signatures for the next round!”
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The campaign’s immediate goal, Seith continued, is to raise funds to help pay for professional petitioners, billboard advertisements, web design and community events.
She’s also reaching out to companies and individuals who might be able to volunteer, host campaign events or help amplify organizers’ efforts.
“I need help now more than ever,” she said, encouraging supporters to visit the campaign’s website and Instagram page or email organizers directly. “If anyone is willing to contribute monetary funds, or even time and resources, that would be fantastic! I really am just one woman trying to make a difference.”
Seith initially filed the initiative petition in April, a little more than a month after submitting a separate, similar proposal that would legalize cannabis cafes. She clarified on Wednesday that the current initiative, referring to the facilities as “social lounges,” is the measure the campaign will attempt to put before voters.
If passed, it would legalize and regulate state-licensed cannabis consumption lounges, offering what the initiative describes as “a safe, legal environment for adults to consume cannabis” in compliance with state law.
“These lounges will operate in a manner that ensures public health and safety, while providing adult-use cannabis consumers with a designated space to enjoy cannabis in social settings, and allowing the sale and consumption of unmedicated food and beverages,” the petition’s purpose section says.
It specifies that cannabis social lounge licenses would be available only to small cannabis business licensees, known in the state as microbusinesses.
Under the proposal, cannabis social lounges could allow adults 21 and older to consume cannabis and sell “unmedicated food and beverages,” but they could not “sell, distribute, or provide cannabis for sale on the premises” of the business.
Consumption of marijuana “must be limited to smoking, vaping, and the consumption of non-edible products,” the proposal says.
Alcohol and tobacco—including nicotine vape products—would be strictly prohibited at the businesses. They would also need to close by 2 a.m.
It’s unclear whether local governments could prohibit the establishments. The petition says they could “regulate the number of cannabis social lounges” and set further restrictions, but it doesn’t address outright bans. Local governments would also be able to inspect the lounges to ensure compliance with state and local law.
Regulators at the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) would oversee the new businesses. The petition outlines a license application process for lounges as well as basic penalties, noting, for example, that violations of any provisions in the act may result in fines and/or license suspension or revocation. It also says unlicensed operation of a lounge could carry civil and criminal penalties.
As for public education, lounges would be required to post “signs or other visual aids…to inform patrons about the risks of cannabis consumption and the lounge’s operating rules,” the proposal says.
OLCC would also work with public health authorities ” to provide educational materials and outreach programs to ensure that Oregon residents understand the purpose and rules governing cannabis consumption lounges.”
The new measure would appear on Oregon’s November 2026 ballot. If approved, it would take effect January 1, 2027.
Separately in Oregon, state officials earlier this month notified a federal appeals court that they are challenging a lower judge’s ruling striking down a voter-approved law that required licensed marijuana businesses to enter into labor peace agreements with workers and mandated that employers remain neutral in discussions around unionization.
Details of the appeal are still unknown, but the court gave the state a deadline of September 3 to provide an opening brief, and the plaintiffs must file a reply brief by October 3.
Under the currently paused law, a marijuana businesses that was unable to provide proof of a labor peace agreement could have been subject a denial or revocation of their license.
Meanwhile, an ongoing federal lawsuit in Oregon could eventually give more people legal access to psilocybin, with plaintiffs arguing that the state’s first-in-the nation psilocybin law wrongfully prevents homebound patients from seeking care.
In an 12-page ruling issued late last month, District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai denied the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, opining that the plaintiffs have standing to bring the challenge and that a modification of the state’s psilocybin law to provide a reasonable accommodation to homebound patients under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) would not violate principles of federalism.
“The Court agrees with Plaintiffs and finds that their requested remedy rests on physical access rather than use or distribution of a controlled substance in violation of state and federal laws,” the ruling said.
Also last month, the state’s governor signed a bill into law that will allow marijuana businesses to offer samples of their products at trade events, while removing restrictions on wholesale transactions between cannabis companies at those gatherings.
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