Just when you think that Las Vegas can’t do anything to top eating dinner while dangling from a crane (at Dinner in the Sky Las Vegas, where one person dines for $289), the thousand-foot-high thrill rides, and an artificial volcano, comes the Planet 13 Superstore, an interactive entertainment experience all about marijuana. Nevada legalized adult-use cannabis in 2017, and Planet 13 Holdings has six licenses to cultivate, produce and dispense cannabis and cannabis products in the state of Nevada. One of their dispensaries, Medizin, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and serves over 650 customers a day. The Planet 13 attraction, set to open in November of 2018, will be over 40,000 square feet, with 16,000 of retail selling space.
So what exactly will the world’s largest cannabis-related entertainment facility look like? (And who ever imagined that would be an industry?) In an interview with Vice, David Farris, Planet 13’s Director of Marketing, described the planet-like sphere you’ll encounter upon entering – it will have moving water, steam, and lights that will replicate flames. Keypads will allow visitors to program the lights to flash in time with the music. Customers will be able to use the laser graffiti wall – an LCD plate with a glow pen – and “tag” it with whatever they wish. Another touchscreen lights up under your feet. At the end of the tour is the dispensary area, where visitors will see a show with flying orbs that perform along with the beat of the music.
Planet 13 is capitalizing on the fact that, although marijuana use is legal in Nevada, it is not allowed on the Strip. This means that in the area with all the attractions, there’s no purchasing marijuana, and there’s no using it in hotel rooms. The Superstore is located only a 10-minute walk away, and they hope to lure people in with the idea of purchasing marijuana and having some entertainment at the same location. Statewide, the law says that the purchase and sale of marijuana are allowed anywhere – except the Strip – but it must be consumed at home. (Of course, it seems clear that all the light shows are meant to appeal to people who are high.)
There have been discussions about allowing the operation of marijuana consumption businesses, more commonly called marijuana lounges, so that people can smoke in public. However, lawmakers have expressed concerns that this might lead to public health and safety problems – an increase in drugged driving, for example. Nevada already allows cigarette smoking inside many bars and clubs, so the concerns about indoor air quality that have been voiced in other states is at least not a problem there.
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