Pot activist plans hemp-themed café
Jodie Emery’s new joint won’t be allowed to sell cannabis-based products
Jodie Emery is setting up shop in Kensington Market, launching a café that will occupy the space left behind by Casa Coffee, which recently closed.
Despite Emery’s history as a marijuana activist, the café will not sell cannabis-based products — yet.
“As an activist for cannabis legalization, I’ve always wanted to have the Amsterdam model, where adults can enjoy coffee, cannabis and food in a café,” Emery said.
The café, cheekily named “Jodie’s Joint,” in reference to Emery’s self-described talent of joint rolling, is set to sell coffee and hemp-based foods.
Emery had hoped that a coffee and cannabis joint could be a reality here. Although that won’t be possible under the coming legislation, Emery says she “still loves coffee” and has always dreamed of bringing the two together.
“In the absence of being able to actually do cannabis sales, I hope to make the coffee shop a hemp-themed thing,” she said, adding she hopes to offer cannabis and cannabis goods if the laws eventually change.
The café’s interior will feature hemp-based and environmentally friendly materials, in an effort to familiarize patrons with the many uses of the plant, which can be used to produce sustainable fabrics and building materials.
“Cannabis hemp is just a phenomenal plant, it can be used to make everything except metal and glass,” Emery said. She intends to advocate for the uses of the plant through the café. “I hope to use it to showcase hemp as a material in the fabrics, the wallpaper, the construction if possible.”
Jodie’s Joint is still in the early planning stages, but Emery hopes to open this summer.
Kensington landmark Casa Coffee, which closed last month, had occupied the spot at Augusta Ave. and Baldwin St. since 1963.
Emery and her husband Marc, who calls himself the “Prince of Pot,” are well known for their cannabis activism.