I’m guessing that recreational use not being legal adds to that problem. Since cigarettes are legal, you can step outside and smoke a cigarette on the street with no fear of being hassled or arrested. Venues can even be comfortable with accommodating cigarette smoking customers even in places where indoor smoking is illegal by designating an outdoor area a smoking area and equipping it with ashtrays, seats, shelter on the legally permissible number of sides to still be considered outdoors, etc. But since pot is illegal, people don’t want to stand out in the open and the businesses can’t really openly create a space where the illegal activity is encouraged on their property (especially if they have a liquor license they need to protect).
And while the mileage may vary depending on the venues clientele, for a lot of venues, there are less people who will stop attending shows there because of the pot smokers than there are pot smokers who will be less likely to come back if they get kicked out for smoking weed after having paid for tickets. Yeah, the ones who were upset by being penalized for their behavior would be in the wrong, but who’s wrong in principle doesn’t make it any better for the venue when they lose that customer and anyone else that the customer badmouths them to. It boils down to keeping the most customers happy and coming back. A crackdown on the pot smoking would alienate more customers than it would bring in.
