Check out Brian Applegarth's latest issue of Cannabis Travel Weekly, republished here with his permission.
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS - Google Greenlights Marketing of CBD & Hemp
Summary: 'Google recently announced it will now allow the advertising of particular hemp and CBD products in Colorado, California, and Puerto Rico. This includes topicals and pharmaceuticals containing CBD. However, formats, such as YouTube Masthead ads, will not be eligible for serving. The announcement is a step in the right direction for the company, especially considering their previous announcement to ban marijuana products from Google Play in 2019, which faced criticism. Limiting the advertising to three places leaves a lot to be desired and shows there is still much to be done.' #cannabistravelmarketing #cannabistourism Beard Bros Pharms Beard Bros Digital Marketing
Cannabis Travel Commentary: Marketing US federally legal hemp and CBD just became a bit more normal and mainstream. Google is Google, and this is a step forward. In the year ahead, hemp wellness consumer products (including visitor purchases) will widen beyond CBD. CBN and CBG are also catching on as mainstream hemp product trends. In 2023 CBN will outpace CBG due to its rapidly growing reputation as a therapeutic compound that supports a good nights rest. A good nights rest + hotels is completely on the nose. Hemp products powerfully integrated into hotel in 2023 is an obvious opportunity for incremental revenue while doubling as a surprise and delight moment for guests. Selecting the right hemp products, brands, and partners is the key to success.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - Cannabis Lounges as Attractions for Destination Visitors
Summary: 40 prospective lounge licenses are in play. Regulators now say the first lounges are likely to open next year, possibly in the summer 2023. “I honestly view cannabis as part of the Las Vegas experience for tourism,” Commissioner Tick Segerblom said. “You can come here, you can buy it, but you can’t use it, which I think is crazy.” For Oasis Cannabis, plans are already in motion for a lounge. Christopher LaPorte, founder of Reset Vegas, a local hospitality company, has partnered with Thrive Cannabis Marketplace, another provisional license-holder, to help create its lounge. “We want a venue that’s food and beverage, entertainment, nightlife and cannabis” LaPorte said. “Our lounges are going to have a Las Vegas flare.”
Travel Lens Commentary: Yes. Sign me up for a cannabis lounge experience with a 'Las Vegas flare". Old Vegas flare or new Las Vegas flare? I'm excited to find out. 2023 is a historic year for the Las Vegas travel scene and the visitor ecosystem of the city. The destination is lighting up with a wide spectrum of immersive cannabis consumption spaces to choose from including lounges, cafes, wellness, experiential, and more. The battle for the coolest cannabis experience creator has begun, and only the most hospitality polished of these cannabis consumption spaces will emerge as 'cannabis-themed attractions' in the mainstream visitor ecosystem. I wonder who it will be. I look forward to seeing what Chris and Thrive create, and what others innovate for a city as special and unique as Las Vegas. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority - LVCVAChamber of Cannabis
UNITED NATIONS - A New Approach to Global 'War of Drugs'
Summary: 'Last week the UN General Assembly made history by adopting a resolution on drugs. The resolution includes some of the strongest ever human rights language relating to drug policy. For decades, debates and political commitments on drug policy at the United Nations have been plagued by the goal of 'achieving a society free of drugs'. This fantastical notion has underpinned unimaginable harm as governments all over the world have strived to eradicate drugs through draconian measures. The global human cost of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ - a devastating crisis of mass incarceration, overdose deaths, extrajudicial kills and a litany of human rights violations that have impacted some of society's most marginalized. Overall, by emphasizing human rights concepts and doing away with ultimately harmful ideological objectives such as 'a society free of drug abuse', the resolution goes a long way towards refocusing international cooperation away from reducing illegal cultivation, production and drug trafficking and towards reducing the negative consequences of the global drug situation on individuals and communities. #cannabistravel#cannabistourismWorld Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Travel Lens Commentary: The consequences of the 'War on Drugs', cannabis illegality is a central to that conversation. The 'War-on-Drugs' topic is directly connected to the rise of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) as an shared value of global culture today, increasingly in practice in new and innovative ways around the world. The UN making this official pivot to focus on uplifting individuals that are in need of support and empowering communities is a step forward. 'The War-on-Drugs' era weaponized the word 'Drug' and manipulated it's definition. It created stigma including the notion of 'the other', defining the a 'Drug User' as a bad person. The irony is palpable. For all the history of world, every moment in time prior to 1937 prohibition, cannabis was known as a medicine plant by cultures around the world. In the history of the human civilization, cannabis has only been demonized for less than 87 years. Prior to it becoming illegal, cannabis was listed as a medicine in the 3rd edition of the official United States Medical Pharmacopeia as a treatment for many illnesses.
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