WeedMaps Museum Of Weed Attempts To Remove The Stigma From Marijuana Use
The changing tide of public opinion towards the use of marijuana for medical and recreational purposes has been moving quickly in the U.S. However, for some, the move towards the full legalization of cannabis has been too long coming and is still affected by a negative public opinion of the natural product. WeedMaps is a tech company that has a powerful say in the U.S. marijuana market as it acts as a review platform for users to give their opinion on dispensaries, strands, and anything linked to the use of cannabis.
The latest way the WeedMaps company is trying to affect public opinion about cannabis use is through the opening of their interactive Museum of Weed exhibit in Los Angeles. The 30,000 square foot exhibition space is located in Hollywood and tries to provide an entertaining learning experience for visitors about the stigmatization of marijuana throughout the 20th-century. LA Weekly reports the exhibition at 720 North Cahuenga Boulevard includes seven distinct sections of the exhibition and a plant lad area to guide viewers through the changing attitude to cannabis over the last century.
The exhibition is the latest work by the executives at WeedMaps, including CEO Chris Beals who was quick to praise the work of VIRTUE, the New York-based creative group born from the workers of Vice Magazine. The two groups have come together to create a powerful story taking visitors from the pre-prohibition days of the early-20th-century to the mid-20th-century beginnings of the war on drugs and beyond. Beals seems to be particularly proud of the approach of the exhibition to the later years covered by the exhibition that includes the mass incarceration of minorities and the role cannabis played in handling the AIDS epidemic. Taking a look at the social impact of the war on drugs introduced by President Richard Nixon and extended by President Raegan shows how the stigma grew around cannabis use from the 1960s through the 1980s and remains in place for many.
The WeedMaps Museum of Weed is not solely focused on the way cannabis has been stigmatized but does take a positive approach by bringing the stories of those who pioneered cannabis use to the public. Chris Beals explains the exhibition is dedicated to all the stoners, campaigners, and activists who have fought for so long to legalize cannabis use across the U.S. If the latest statistics from the Pew Research Center are to be believed, the work of activists like WeedMaps is having a positive effect on the way U.S. citizens view marijuana. Towards the end of 2018, the Pew Research Center revealed its latest statistics regarding the level of feeling towards marijuana legalization in the U.S. These figures included around 62 percent of Americans surveyed supporting cannabis legalization, up from 61 percent in 2017. Although this change may not seem like a huge shift, in 2000 only 31 percent of U.S. residents agreed with marijuana legalization.
The figures from the Pew Research Center are significant because the U.S. has been seeing a shift in focus with nine states and the District of Columbia now passing legislation legalizing recreational marijuana use. The second set of bills have also passed state congress groups in 31 states allowing medical marijuana use to be permitted despite no change yet to Federal laws banning all use. Despite the lack of movement at the Federal level, the people of the U.S. seem to be changing their minds about the recreational use of marijuana with Millennials supporting relaxing national laws at a level of 74 percent. The least supportive social group remains the Silent Generation who support legalization at just 39 percent, but this number is showing an upward trend each year.
WeedMaps executives believe the birth of their Museum of Weed pop-up exhibition that runs from August 3rd through September provides a perfect way of understanding the different ways the U.S. has been affected by propaganda. Chris Beals appeared at the August 1st preview of the exhibition and revealed a U.S. resident is arrested for non-violent possession of marijuana every 48 seconds across the nation, which has been part of the rise on the prison population that is now the largest in the world.
Despite the gray area the legalization of cannabis remains stranded in across the U.S., the Museum of Weed is continuing to take a positive view of the drug and hopes to educate as many visitors as possible. By taking an immersive and interactive journey into the criminalization of marijuana, WeedMaps and VIRTUE believe they can show how cannabis was a popular part of everyday life until the U.S. Government decided to change the way it was viewed through legislation and propaganda.
The exhibition begins with a look at how marijuana became popular in the pre-prohibition era and was not seen as a threat. The next few four sections of the exhibition take a look at how the attitudes of U.S. society were changed towards the drug in the Prohibition era and beyond with a period of hysteria predating the rise of the 1960s counterculture across the U.S. and particularly in California.
Perhaps, the most important sections in the exhibition are those base don the so-called war on drugs which began in secret under the Presidency of Richard Nixon. Despite the impact of the DEA on the marijuana-using society in the U.S., the exhibition does consistently focus on the positives of each period. For the war on drugs, the establishment and enhancement of activist groups, such as NORML are highlighted as being the foundations on which the current change in attitude across the U.S. are based.
The Plant Lab also plays a key role in the story of the legalization and the ongoing fight to bring marijuana out of the shadows. For Churis Beals and his fellow executives at WeedMaps, the chance to highlight the natural aspects of the plants themselves is key to changing as many attitudes as possible regarding whether the full Federal legalization of marijuana should be pushed for.
WeedMaps has been taking an increasing role in the activism aspects of marijuana in the U.S. in the last few years after being established in 2008. The company began with a simple mission to create a platform to allow medical marijuana users to connect with each other and discuss different strains and dispensaries in a safe, secure environment. WeedMaps began taking a more active role in marijuana legalization efforts in 2011 when it partnered with the activism group, NORML to add to the work it conducts online. Partnering with NORML allowed the group to become a more active part of the overall drive to legalize marijuana across the U.S.
