There’s a New Tourism Industry in Town and it Smells like Pot

With a growing number of states legalizing cannabis, folks are looking for higher experiences and, in the process, they might just help the tourism industry with its recovery.

By Eniola “OJ” Oshiafi

Wednesday, April 20

On the holiday set aside for them, hundreds of stoners turned up at the Amazura Club in Jamaica, Queens, to celebrate. They were promised a “Massive 420 Fest” with live music, dozens of vendors and farmers, fine art galleries, brownie bake-offs, and — if they got there at the right time — seeing Makeda Marley (Bob Marley’s youngest daughter, which, you can imagine, was a huge pull) deejay on stage. And they were not disappointed.

Between 4:20 pm and 4:20 am the next day, over 30 vendors were selling and gifting everything from free joints to customized merchandise. Creating a square-shaped dance party area before the stage to one wall, tables filled with 420-themed grinders, lighters, ashtrays, jewelry, quilts, blankets, and tapestries spanned the perimeter of the three other walls in the space. One table had stacks of almost a dozen different weed magazines that were free to take, and another with only hand-crafted pipes, bongs, and bowls for sale. Sprinkled in between were the pot farmers. Their showcases of dozens of pot plants were the most popular in the room. When they weren’t trying to recruit every innocent bystander, they were spiritedly explaining the painstaking process of growing the plant with Rockwool and hydroponic equipment. Then, of course, you had the Canna-wellness vendors, with their therapeutic CBD oils, bath bombs, and comforting crystals.

Out of all these, the art galleries stood out to me: creations with vibrant patterns of bright colors and abstract elements, very obviously inspired by the sense-altering effects of pot and psychedelics. Under the dim purple and red lights, these paintings, craftworks, and sculptures seemed even more ethereal.

Upon witnessing this fest, it became clear that there has never been a better time to be a stoner in America. A wave of “green” legislation is passing at an unprecedented pace. Since 2012, 18 states and Washington D.C. have legalized the recreational use of cannabis for adults over the age of 21 while 38 states and D.C. have legalized it for medical use. And in the past six months alone, every cannabis-related ballot measure put to voters last November passed, including those in red states like Mississippi, Montana, and South Dakota.

So even though cannabis is still technically considered an illegal Schedule I drug at the federal level, it is one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. And with this widespread legalization has emerged a steady proliferation of cannabis tourism spots and events in many cities: from museums and farm tours to haute supper clubs and puff-and-paint events.

Travel that Smells like Pot

Experts contend that this budding industry is set to become a fixture of the larger tourism industry in the near future. A 2020 report found that 29 percent of all active leisure travelers (and 18 percent of all Americans) want to do cannabis-related activities on vacation. After the hit the American tourism industry took due to the pandemic, this could be welcome news for a lot of government officials.

Especially in a city like New York, where tourism is a vital cornerstone of the economy, this could be a boon. Done right, cannabis could help spur this fledgling industry that is still recovering from a dramatic falloff in visitors. Since cannabis tourism is, by no means, just an American phenomenon, it can also inspire foreign tourists who often have a supersized effect on the economy because they tend to stay longer and spend more.

“When we first started in 2017, we were dedicated to only California but we had to rebrand early last year,” said Brian Applegarth, the founder of the Cannabis Travel Association International (CTAI, formerly just CTA). “We were getting a lot of attendance from Canada, Thailand, and Europe so it became really obvious that to accommodate the audience that was showing up, we had to rebrand and expand internationally.”

Victor Pinho, CEO, and Co-Founder of Emerald Farm Tours has witnessed this trend, too, accommodating patrons from all around the world. Moreover, it’s not only young folks that go on tours.

“There was this couple from Texas, who were in their late 70s and they were the cutest couple in the world,” said Pinho, smiling. “All they wanted to do was just smoke at all the lounges and they were having a great time.”

Cannabis tourism also isn’t just for the traditional tourists who would love Pinho’s tour bus stops at different pot farms. Several other cannabis-themed experiences are popping up and one of them is the Cannabis Supper Club in California.

“It started off as a dinner pairing with each item on the chef’s tasting menu, inspired by and paired with a specific strain from a specific brand (without offering any infusions),” said its founder, Marc Liebel. “Now, due to popular demand, we offer cannabis-infused food as well.”

Liebel’s supper club boasts of fine dining with Michelin-starred chefs: 10-course meals with half of the courses paired with buds and the other half infused. Hence, it’s an elevated culinary experience for stoners who want more than brownies or gummies. Consequently, their event tickets are constantly sold out with a significant number of its patrons and members coming in from outside California.

“A lot of people that come in from out of town base their trip around our pop-up events,” Liebel continued. “In an event, we had in Vegas this year, out of the 25 people we had, only four or five people were actually from Vegas. We had people flying in from Georgia, Texas, Florida, and New Jersey just for this.”

Seeing these kinds of tourists searching for places to stay during their trips, Elizabeth Becker saw a golden opportunity and created HiBnb: a website, similar to Airbnb, where cannabis-consuming tourists can book accommodations from cannabis-friendly hosts.

“It’s not just hosts accommodating a community of like-minded people, it is also bringing meaningful experiences,” Becker said. “For three years I have poured my heart and soul into building this business because when I started talking to people about it, their eyes would shine, they would get such great smiles and be like ‘you have to do that.’”

With All These Highs Come Some Lows

The Cannabition Cannabis Museum in Las Vegas promises an immersive experience and boasts of incredible “Instagrammable” potential with their artistic exhibition of several cannabis-related pieces. However, under no circumstances can cannabis be consumed onsite. This is a big problem for Cannabition president, Alex Brough.

Speaking as both a cannabis user and a business owner (since he is a high school weed dealer turned president of a private equity fund that invests in cannabis companies all over the country), Brough, said many of Cannabition’s patrons want to be able to consume there while experiencing the exhibit. In other words, stoners don’t want to just see the world’s largest bong, they want to gawk at it high.

“Social consumption is extremely important for cannabis tourism. For people who are into cannabis, it is certainly a major thing when they go to a destination,” said Brough. “Places that have social consumption are going to be the main drivers of cannabis tourism moving forward.”

Being equally fluent in both perspectives (as someone who grew up on a pot farm his parents owned before becoming an entrepreneur), the founder of the Oregon Cannabis Concierge, Josh Taylor also protests the inability to legally permit social consumption.

“Our issue is with indoor consumption. The ‘Clean Indoor Act’ here in Multnomah County prohibits the consumption of any smoke within a building that has three or more walls and a roof,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “So we’ve had to pivot and do a lot more of our events during the summer because we can do stuff outdoors.”

So why is social consumption such an issue in the cannabis space? Well because the laws haven’t caught up to the popularity of cannabis tourism.

“You know, when recreational cannabis first came on board, we sort of figured that this would just be a natural domino-like effect that you would see the city, state, and county supporting cannabis tourism and supporting consumption, not only for the tax revenue and the permit revenue that they would bring in but also for education,” Taylor said.

But that is obviously not the case.

“Generally, there is a lack of regulations around the safe and responsible consumption of cannabis (in its variety of forms) for social and recreational purposes in public space,” said Dr. Susan Dupej, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Guelph, researching cannabis tourism. “The industry is evolving ahead of regulations largely in part to the fact that legalized cannabis is an entirely new playing field with no previously set standards. Therefore, regulators are going to have to catch up.”

For some of these businesses, the question of social consumption also provokes other legal concerns.

“People can’t consume in the museum because once we get a consumption license, it precludes us from being able to use a lot of major marketing platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Google,” said Brough from Cannabition.

This is called the 70/30 rule. Cannabis companies can’t utilize the advertising platform if that platform can’t guarantee that over 70 percent of the viewership is over the age of 21 and can legally consume pot.

“These social media apps have a zero-tolerance for cannabis businesses. We can’t engage in any paid advertising on Facebook or Instagram so all we can really depend on is the word of mouth and partnerships,” said Becker of HiBnb. “How are we supposed to get off the ground if we can’t promote, market, and advertise?”

When they’re not worried about how they’re going to promote themselves, key actors in the cannabis industry have to constantly face the stigma.

“Professional property managers have this knee-jerk reaction that ‘I don’t want stoners around here. Do you know how many ashes I’ve got to clean up and burns on the couch?’” said Becker. “So it’s our responsibility at HiBnb to fight the stigma and break the stereotype that a stoner is irresponsible and is going to burn down your house, especially with our rule ‘leave no ash behind.’”

However, she laments the fact that more damaging products with no medicinal value have gone decades without the same demonizing stigma.

“It’s a little bit frustrating to me that alcohol and tobacco are so ingrained in our culture,” Becker said. “Alcohol is so acceptable it’s almost like people think there’s something wrong with you if you don’t drink alcohol.”

In addition to the rules on HiBnb, Becker is also focusing on educating those new to the cannabis community. She wants to appeal to the “Canna-curious,” or those who are open to it now that it’s legal and don’t have a huge history with it but are interested in learning more. In the same vein, Taylor from the Oregon Cannabis Concierge agrees that targeting those not accustomed to cannabis consumption is the way to go.

“Education is such a major role in harm reduction,” Taylor said. “If your big concern is people are going to smoke too much and pass out, crash their car, or start a fight, then you should be providing monitored opportunities even for low potency consumption so people can learn what their limits are and understand why they’re having good or bad experiences and how to counter a bad one.”

Taking it a step further, Applegarth from the CTAI believes that this education even extends to consumption training in cannabis-friendly hotels, destinations, and events.

“Adult use serving destinations have visitors and residents using cannabis and not having the proper safety and risk mitigation protocols,” Applegarth said. “It is important to make sure that a visitor has a great destination experience which means having information that helps guide that visitor experience in a safe and controlled way.”

Some establishments take the need for this education seriously and are actively making it a part of their structure. One of these places is Hemp Lab NYC.

The Hemp School

When I imagine a hipster store, I see Hemp Lab NYC. In the heart of Bushwick rests this quaint colorful shop and its adjoining courtyard hosting the 420 event that everyone came for. The space is adorned to give a homey coffee shop feel with its buffet-style drink corner, communal tables, and wall-to-wall decorations of leaves and flowers.

But what really cinches the indie hippie vibe is the shop being a center of education and gentle conversation. On the right side of the entryway, there is an “educational wall” with artificial leaves adorning its perimeter. Flyers — explaining the terms Cannaware, Terpenes, and Cannabinoids — are tucked into the glass pockets hanging from the wall. Additionally, opposite this wall rests a shelf filled with instructional books about growing pot and cooking with pot, and below it, another shelf stacked with several vintage issues of the iconic High Times Magazine.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Diaz, one of the shop’s co-owners goes around educating potential customers on the effects of the psychoactive tea blends, infused products, and psychedelic herbs that are on sale. At the same time, in the spacious fenced-off courtyard behind the shop, the DJ stops playing reggae to explain to over a dozen guests sitting around two fire pits, that all the proceeds from this 420 event would be going to a fund for those still incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses in New York. This prompted even more people to either enter the five-dollar raffle, buy a grilled cheese sandwich, or get infused plant-based ice cream from the vendor.

Future Day-ze

According to Yulin Liu and Adam Stronczak in their essay, “Cannabis Tourism: An emerging transformative tourism form,” the cannabis tourism industry has the commercial potential to assume a substantial chunk of the American economy.

Citing Colorado as an example of how the rest of the country could be, the authors describe how the state’s tourism increased after recreational cannabis use was legalized in 2014. For example, a travel booking site noted an almost 75 percent increase in the number of searches for Denver. Subsequently, 23 percent of Colorado visitors in 2015 mentioned that the accessibility of cannabis positively influenced their decision to visit. In the age group from 25 to 34, these numbers went up to 33%. Oregon and Washington also experienced similar search increases after cannabis was legalized there as well.

Agreeing with this deduction, Dr. Dupej is confident that as cannabis increasingly becomes more normalized and mainstream, so will cannabis tourism.

“The popularity of cannabis tourism will only grow once the secretive substance gets re-framed as a feature or attraction that is not only sold but celebrated by the public,” she said.

Furthermore, Dupej contends that after the hit the tourism industry took as a result of the pandemic, cannabis experiences are a potential economic recovery method by way of expanding already established tours.

“Incorporating cannabis experiences is a solid strategy for businesses and could be the difference between a small tourism-related business surviving or going under,” she explained.

As a result, Dupej and other experts believe regulators will be forced to adapt their current patchwork quilt of laws to sustain the burgeoning industry and the Cannabis Travel Association International (CTAI) is trying to get a head start on that.

“We [CTAI] spent the last year working on drafting a catering license for cannabis in California which has a lot of support in Sacramento this year,” said Applegarth. “If it goes through, it provides the ability to have cannabis at weddings and private events.”

When creating this new paradigm, the CTAI modeled their license after the alcohol catering license since a familiar license type would help get the buy-in they need.

“Hopefully Nevada and other states can look to this catering license next year and say ‘okay that worked.’ It can also be a beacon for hospitality-minded licenses,” Applegarth said. “These kinds of licenses are vital to the normalization arc of the travel industry’s adoption of cannabis.”

Pot Tourism and the Big Apple

“I think New York has the capability to be a huge cannabis tourism destination 100 percent,” Applegarth said with a chuckle.

From a destination development lens, Applegarth believes because of its sheer volume and its establishment as a tourist center, New York City is inherently relevant to the tourism industry so it will quickly become noteworthy in the cannabis tourism industry.

“New York has killer restaurants, beautiful history, amazing architecture, and incredible art. All of these things are often appealing to the cannabis travel audience,” he said. “They skew higher than the average active leisure traveler as foodies and they love art because cannabis is inspiring and creative.”

Others believe cannabis could even be part of the revival of the NYC tourism industry.

“I think it can replace lost revenue streams from what’s been a flagging tourism industry because I don’t think that there are many cannabis prohibitionists when talking about potential revenue streams,” laughed Taylor from Oregon Cannabis Concierge. “That’s how you got recreational cannabis passed in New York. It’s because the money is insane.”

Despite contacting several spokespeople at the NYC & Company — the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for New York City —, none of them responded to comment.

The Stoner’s Dream

We walked into a smoke shop justly called “the Smoke Box” considering that immediately upon entering, the pungent earthy scent of cannabis smoke enclosed in the small store attacked our nostrils so violently that my eyes watered. They clear to hear the two Black men behind the counter yell, “Happy 420!” A happy 4/20 indeed.

“The Smoke Box” on Flatbush Avenue — not too far from Little Haiti — looks like they had just moved into their location: there are bare wires in the electric outlets, an unstable white uPVC casement door with the key hanging in the lock, and a tenuous green sheet separating the front of the store from their “stock room.” Nonetheless, the place is flushed with customers choosing their preferred strain off the top of the glass display case filled with an assortment of rolling papers, roaches, lighters, and tobacco products.

“It’s insane that this is right here in New York,” said Chris Okoye, one of the customers. “It doesn’t feel like it because it’s so out in the open and we don’t have to be going underground just to cop a joint.”

There is a tiny whiteboard hung on the wall to the right where the names of the strains and their prices are written but it stays pretty much ignored because customers are trusting their ‘budtenders’ to recommend the best. A young Black man wore the classic 90s gold-rimmed rectangular glasses, several gold rings, and a light purple hoodie with a picture of Angela Davis and another of Assata Shakur, both cradled by flowers while his older, darker colleague, with Marley dreadlocks, completes the look with a rasta cap and black leather jacket. They are both sluggishly rolling, softly conversing with customers, completing sales, and handing out free pre-rolls and edibles like some sort of pot angels. The rap music playing is at just the right volume: not too soft like in a clothing store and not painfully loud like in a club. The atmosphere is euphoric.

“This place is so cool right?” Okoye continues, gesturing wildly, his hands wafting through the smoke he just exhaled. “I wish there were more places like this in New York, especially on a day like this that’s for us, you know? It’s a real-life dream.”