Sponsored Content — Weedmaps

The long and endlessly intriguing history of cannabis will come to life in the Weedmaps Museum of Weed, opening Aug. 3, 2019, in the heart of Hollywood, California. 

The museum will immerse visitors in a series of interactive and informational exhibits that tell the story of the growers, stoners, and activists who expanded knowledge of the plant and kept the cannabis movement alive despite decades of government prohibition and propaganda. 

Weedmaps, a leading technology company in the cannabis industry, is on a mission to subvert audience expectations of what a modern museum looks like by crafting an experience that emulates the dynamic characteristics of the plant itself and the company’s vision of making cannabis legal, safe, and accessible for all. Here’s everything you need to know about the Weedmaps Museum of Weed before you take in the journey.

Why a Weedmaps Museum of Weed? 

In a nutshell, the Weedmaps Museum of Weed is here to tell the whole story of cannabis. As any person knowledgeable about weed can attest, the world’s most notorious plant has gotten a pretty bad rap. A hundred years of propaganda, marked by fearmongering and devastating misinformation, have twisted our perceptions and relationship to cannabis. The Weedmaps Museum of Weed aims to undo the cultural damage of stigmatization and celebrate a future where the responsible consumption of legal, adult use cannabis becomes a reality. 

Weedmaps is uniquely positioned to present a groundbreaking, comprehensive cannabis exhibit to the public — having built one of the largest online communities of consumers, retailers, doctors, and brands since its founding in 2008. With a rich history of pioneering cannabis technology and supporting the weed community, Weedmaps is inviting the public to take part in its hard-earned understanding of cannabis through the museum experience.   

Despite increasing efforts to decriminalize cannabis, and overwhelming evidence about its benefits, stigma around weed continues to run deep,” said Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals. “Through the Weedmaps Museum of Weed, we hope to provide visitors with a robust understanding of the highs and lows of cannabis history, and to create a stronger understanding of the importance of this plant and its potential.”

When and Where Is It?

The Weedmaps Museum of Weed will have its Grand Opening on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, and will be located on Melrose Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard:

720 N Cahuenga Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90083

Weekly hours for the museum will be:

  • Wednesday-Thursday: 2-8:30pm 
  • Friday: Noon-Midnight 
  • Saturday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; VIP-only hours are Saturday 8 p.m.-Midnight 
  • Sunday: Noon-7 p.m.

All guests must be at least 18 years old and have valid ID to enter. General admission is $35. VIP tickets available for guests 21 and older are $200. VIP nights offer an intimate, less crowded museum experience with amenities that include cafe access, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and a curated gift bag to take home at the end of the night. Tickets are only available online.   

The museum will be open for a limited time, closing Sept. 29, 2019.

What’s in the Museum?

The 30,000-square-foot Hollywood location will house a museum experience inhabiting seven exhibits and a Plant Lab section. In the spirit of providing a fun, educational, and comprehensive journey through the history of cannabis, the museum will take visitors through exhibits that represent seven eras of cannabis:

Pre-Prohibition

The first stop of the tour will depict the early history and many uses of cannabis and hemp across centuries and continents. A chronological presentation of artifacts — including full-sized samurai armor, which utilized hemp, from the 1600s and a re-creation of the Betsy Ross flag handmade from hemp — will show the magnitude of the plant’s deep-rooted cultural influence. 

Age of Madness

Guests will wander through a funhouse of propaganda from the “Reefer Madness” era of the 1920s to the ’50s to feel the full effect of how marijuana was used as a tool for oppression, control, and systemic racism. In addition to bold, colorful collages of era-specific propaganda, guests will get a chance to watch key scenes from films and read sensationalized anti-marijuana journalism of the time. 

Counterculture Revolution

A world of color, culture, and art will envelop guests as they learn about the oppressed groups who organized and took to the streets in support of marijuana. A psychedelic rendering of the art, artists, and activists of the ’60s will show how the counterculture revolution re-introduced the world to cannabis and placed it on the world stage. 

Behind Closed Doors

After experiencing the bright, open Counterculture Revolution space, guests will come face-to-face with a return to hysteria in a small, somber setting. The birth of the war on drugs will be represented by the key figures on both sides of the fight for cannabis — President Richard Nixon and the DEA on one side, and the newly formed National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) on the other.

Entrapment

From “Behind Closed Doors,” guests will be taken to another era fraught with authoritarian policies and systemic oppression, and learn how Reagan-era propaganda further twisted public perception of cannabis.

The Weedmaps Museum of Weed exhibit “Entrapment” shows how the counterculture revolution of the 1960s would fade to the war on drugs.

Dose of Compassion

Beginning in the 1990s, multiple movements re-energized and joined the cause for cannabis as medicine in the shadow of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. A “slice of life” exhibit will feature a fresh look back at ’90s pop culture, when stoner culture found its way back into movies The exhibit will also immerse guests in the cultural and political upheaval that led to a robust fight for relief, including the LGBTQ activists who pioneered legal medical cannabis with California’s Proposition 215, the first medical marijuana legalization measure passed in the U.S.

Legalization

Emphasizing the call to celebrate our current cannabis era, this exhibit will provide an interactive review of recent legalization history through an interactive timeline and map detailing up-to-date legalization activity state by state.  

The Plant

Having experienced the whole story of cannabis firsthand, guests will now have the opportunity to experience the cutting edge and future of the cannabis plant, as told by science. After a foundational lesson in myth-busting facts and base cannabis knowledge, guests will learn about what sets strains apart, how cannabis interacts with the body, and much more. 

Guests at the Weedmaps Museum of Weed will learn about the past, present, and future of the cannabis plant. The grand opening of the Weedmaps Museum of Weed in Hollywood, California, is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, and continue through Sept. 29, 2019.

Other Features

The Weedmaps Museum of Weed will feature a gift shop with an eclectic collection of custom apparel, cannabis trinkets, and celebratory pop culture goodies. And though there won’t be any consumption or cannabis or CBD products sold onsite, the museum will be home to a full cafe catered by the award-winning Crateful Catering. Guests will also have the opportunity to join the cause by writing a letter to their congressperson in advocacy for ethical marijuana legislation. 

Why Go?

The Weedmaps Museum of Weed has the right balance of being informational and Instagrammable. It’ll be an engaging, eye-popping experience, but it’ll also teach you plenty about cannabis and its history. Rather than open up a surface-level branded “museum,” Weedmaps is creating an interactive tool through which to share a wealth of in-depth cannabis knowledge — covering weed culture, science, and medicine, while also offering plenty of great photo ops. 

If you’re a seasoned stoner looking for something new to do in L.A., the Weedmaps Museum of Weed is the place for you. It’ll also be an ideal setting through which to educate friends and family, and a worthy stop for Southern California visitors and vacationers. 

“The Weedmaps Museum of Weed will combine all the immersive elements you’d expect to find in the world’s finest museums across multiple categories, including cultural, fine art and natural history,” Beals said. “There will also be plenty of artistic installations for those who want to share meaningful moments socially.” 

This content is sponsored by Weedmaps. General Admission and VIP Tickets for the Weedmaps Museum of Weed are available at themuseumofweed.com

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