THC-focused bar to open on Frenchmen Street

Catch up quick: Monica Olano opened her Metairie store, Cali Sober Market, earlier this year, aiming to educate and build an audience for nonalcoholic mood-enhancing drinks.

• Some contain THC, but others utilize herbal supplements to promote certain effects, like relaxation, without intoxication.
• Olano's store was a physical expansion of her social media presence, Cali Sober Mom.

What she's saying: "One of the most-often-asked questions we get … is 'Where do I get these when I go out?'" Olano tells Axios New Orleans.

Yes, but: There was an easy solution.

• Olano's husband's family owns Bamboula's, and the Frenchmen Street bar had an unused empty space upstairs.
• Olano pitched her family on the idea of turning it into a THC-focused nonalcoholic space and they bought in.
• "This is where nightlife and culture meets in New Orleans for tourists and locals, so let's do it," she says.

If you go: The new bar, Mélange, opens Friday with a limited menu featuring four or five cocktails.

• Customers can also peruse THC- and non-THC-infused drinks that feature functional ingredients like lion's mane and reishi, Olano says.

What we're watching: A provision in the congressional bill that ended the federal government shutdown could spell the end for some THC products nationwide.