The much anticipated, first-of-its-kind lounge where you can buy cannabis and enjoy it on the premises is expected to launch in San Diego this winter.

The cannabis lounge, under the name Sessions by the Bay, will occupy a three-story, 16,000 square-foot space in National City, a south-of-downtown city that’s working to change its vibe and attract new businesses and restaurants.

The Sessions by the Bay plan includes a dispensary downstairs, a space for food, music, and entertainment on the second floor, and a rooftop lounge on the third floor.

It will be located at 700 Bay Marina Drive, right off of Interstate 5 in a coastal section of National City known as the Marina District, next to the Kimball restaurant. According to The San Diego Reader, the lounge is working in collaboration with the Sycuan Tribal Development Corporation.

Sessions by the Bay is positioned to be the first cannabis lounge in San Diego County.

Who knows, maybe we’ll have one in Vista next, as this North San Diego city has been supportive of cannabis and clearly appreciates the tax revenues generated by cannabis sales.

It’s a different scenario than it used to be, when you’d go to one of the Cannabis dispensaries in San Diego and then discreetly drive home without bringing too much attention to yourself. What you couldn’t do was go to a bar, find a stool and spark a joint.

But now, in a big civil rights victory right up there with um the Voting Rights Act, you can experience sporadic brain farts and dry mouth in the public sphere, with potheads as your witness.

Sessions by the Bay is righting a historic wrong. It’s not just for potheads – it’s a win for all freedom-loving Americans who know intuitively that our Founding Fathers would have wanted their descendants, the inheritors of their democracy, to be able to buy weed AND smoke it in a lounge setting.

For the people, by the people.  

But who are those people, those potential customers that Sessions by the Bay is targeting? The company website suggests Jaguar, not Walmart. They’re envisioning much more than a bar or even a club; they’re selling an other-worldly “experience.” Sessions by the Bay is inviting you to “step into a world of luxury and artistry” for an experience “inspired by Moroccan opulence.” Sessions aspires to be a “visionary venue” that combines fine dining, a cannabis bar featuring gourmet cannabis mocktails, and art exhibits. It has an outdoor terrace, so you can get high and then stare at the moon and announce to no one in particular: “Dude, I feel, you know, so connected to the world right now.”

What I’m not sure about: Is Sessions’ cannabis lounge in National City targeting dudes, young professionals, or men and women of means? Who is their core customer?

It could be very cool…or very pretentious.

Here’s my questions for you:

Do you prefer to be home when you’re high or out in a public and/or social environment?

If you go to a bar, would you rather drink or get high, if you had to choose?

Are you excited to check out Sessions by the Bay?

Key dates:

Jan 17 – Soft opening

The opportunity to sample their craft cannabis mocktails, infused and non-infused snacks, and check out The Art of Elevation, what they bill as “an immersive art experience unlike anything in the city.”

Feb. 5 – Grand opening