At House of Cannabis in SoHo, finding enlightenment without lighting up

After dark in SoHo, a neighborhood newcomer calls attention to itself with glowing green light. It’s called the House of Cannabis, or THC–NYC. At a time when weed shops are budding up all over the city, this permanent space is about showing the plant, not selling it.

Marcelle Frey, who co-founded the House of Cannabis with Dan Kough, says the venture is a hybrid concept: part multisensory experience, part museum.

The five-floor establishment, which opened on April 7, includes 10 immersive exhibitions. Visitors can learn about marijuana’s impact on pop culture, fashion and even wellness. One room shows the plant at different stages in its growing process. Another compels you to lie down on a spinning wheel, to be transported to another world while listening to weed-inspired music. (The plant’s distinctive aroma is restricted to only a select few spaces.)

Newly opened in SoHo, The House of Cannabis calls attention to itself after dark with its green glow.

Courtesy House of Cannabis

The House of Cannabis is not intended to serve only pot devotees, the founders say. “We’re going to have ongoing programming, and community events that are touching everyone in New York,” Frey said.

Kough, the venue’s creative director, says it was important to avoid the obvious in designing the space. “People would think big bongs, very cartoony, very theme parky,” he said. “We really wanted to present the plant for what it was: it’s this really magical part of nature that elevates us in endless ways.”

The experience is intended not only to entertain, but also to educate. In a room called the Forum, five large screens play videos of people who ran into trouble because of drug possession. The space is a collaboration with Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that aims to reduce harms of drug use and prohibition.

“They have been working with people who have been very unjustly treated in the BIPOC community by a lot of the antiquated drug laws,” Kough said. “That’s a very powerful moment, where you get to really see how some of these laws have negatively impacted their lives.”

In New York, Black and Latino people have long been more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than white people, according to data. A Drug Policy Alliance report found that in marijuana arrests between 2010 and 2019, Black and Latino people were arrested eight times more frequently than white counterparts. The New York Times found a similar trend in a 2018 analysis.

In a room called the Forum, House of Cannabis visitors hear testimony from people who experienced trouble relating to drug possession.

Carlos Hano

Melissa Moore, the Drug Policy Alliance’s civil systems reform director, says the organization worked with the House of Cannabis to show visitors how even a minor marijuana conviction could land someone in jail, get them fired and affect their ability to care for their child.

“We believe that every person should be able to work or [be] parents or be housed, and have their community and experience joy, and live freely regardless of drug use,” Moore said.

The Drug Policy Alliance doesn’t receive any money from House of Cannabis ticket sales, but Moore hopes visitors will feel empowered to get involved with the organization. QR codes displayed around the Forum allow visitors to sign up for more information and even share their own experiences.

“I would hope that visitors to the House of Cannabis, and to that room, walk away with a degree of knowledge about just how far reaching the impact is of the drug war, and the types of drug-war logic and the way that it’s infected so many other parts of people’s lives at this point – and the fact that we can do something about this,” she said.

To bolster the community idea, the House of Cannabis is providing employment to formerly incarcerated people through a partnership with A Second U Foundation. They’ll also have artists in residence every few months who will create work inspired by marijuana. The facility includes a cafe and bodega, and monthly programming by educators — which Frey says is a priority — is coming soon.

“We’re aiming for local organizations and associations to feel at home holding their meetings and events that are vital to New York’s vibrant cannabis community at our space,” she said.

The House of Cannabis is open from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily.

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