Portland will now forever be known as the first U.S. city to open a cannabis cafe. The "joint" opened last Friday, but don't jam the airline switchboards with reservations just yet. You can only gain entry to the cafe if you are medically certified to smoke the drug and are a card-carrying member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), an Oregon pro-lobbying group that oversees the cafe's marijuana distribution.

The Cannabis Cafe (the sign on the building says, "Rumspankers" because it was home to an adult erotic club, but it will be changed to reflect its new name) is a private club, in which members pay $25 monthly dues to smoke marijuana freely. Since Oregon law prohibits the smoking of marijuana in public, the cafe's windows are shrouded in dark drapes. Patients can bring their own supply or partake of the free donated marijuana from over-the-counter "budtenders." Folks can also get food and snacks at the cafe, but no liquor will be served. Currently, there are about 21,000 patients in Oregon who are certified to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, such as Alzheimer's, AIDS or rheumatoid arthritis.

The creation of the cafe comes about a month after the Obama administration restricted federal attorneys from prosecuting patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes or dispensaries in states that have legalized them.

Cannabis cafes or "coffee shops" are legal in Amsterdam, where folks can walk around with small amounts of marijuana and not be prosecuted. Here in the United States, however, if you're caught growing, selling or smoking marijuana, you're breaking federal laws.