Rip City took its first step toward Ripped City on Friday when the Cannabis Cafe, the first marijuana cafe in the United States, opened for business. Taking over a space once home to a speakeasy and an "erotic club" called Rumpspankers, Eric Solomon, the cafe's owner, plans on serving marijuana free over the counter to members who pay a $25 monthly fee. Oregon, which allows the cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana for medical purposes and has about 21,000 registered medical-marijuana users, now tests the Obama administration's announcement that it would not prosecute medical marijuana-related offenses in states where marijuana has been legalized for medical use—even though federal law still does not make a distinction between medical and recreational use of marijuana. Neither federal nor local law-enforcement agencies would comment on the Cannabis Cafe's grand opening.
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