New York City has a new marijuana museum. It's located in Soho in a five-story building dating back to 1870 that formerly housed American Apparel. Now it's the House of Cannabis.
After being greeted by attentive staff members, our group was ushered upstairs. Beware, there are a lot of steep steps to climb. For handicapped people, there is an elevator.
Starting on the fourth floor ("The Culture"), the Disorientation room begins with a bright green screen. Then a two-minute montage video encapsulating "6,000 years of cannabis" is shown.
The next room is the Euphorium. Strap on headphones and sit on a console that slowly spins as you listen to a terrific mix of High Tunes from "Beacause I Got High" to "Smoke 2 Joints."
On a more serious note, the Forum, focuses on the ravages of the Drug War. This room was curated by the Drug Policy Alliance. We stopped by the sneaker exhibit in the Joint room before heading to the third floor, which is devoted to "The Agriculture."
The many live plants on this floor are all CBD. However, none of them have begun to flower yet.
The final floor ("The Ascension") and room (the Hypnodrome) is fully immersive. Lie down on comfy back-fitting couches and blend in with the trippy visuals on the wall and ceiling and drony music. This lasts about 10 minutes. At first we were quiet, taking it all in, then we started talking and laughing.
Back down in the lobby we met proprietor Robert Frey, who's a former Las Vegas nightclub owner, and did some shopping. Frey and staff members asked what was our favorite floor or room. For me, since I'm a music journalist by trade, it was the tunes room where I knew at least 75% of the songs.
The House of Cannabis (a.k.a. THC NYC) is open every day through June 10. Tickets cost $45.84.
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