appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

When California legalised recreational marijuana use in 2016, Gene Grozovskiy decided he would show tourists the big change behind the scenes.
Now he’s seeing some green, thanks to strong interest in all that grass in Los Angeles, considered the world’s largest pot market, where the air routinely smells of weed.
The 35-year-old took inspiration from his father, a Russian immigrant who led tours of Los Angeles for decades. The younger Grozovskiy outfitted a bus to take visitors on pot-themed outings.
But he acknowledged that getting Green Tours off the ground has not been easy.

It’s the same complaint heard from many with marijuana-related businesses in California: while dreaming of big money, what they have encountered is plenty of bureaucracy and high taxes from the state.
“At first, the cannabis industry did not accept us, the tourism industry did not accept us,” Grozovskiy says.
“It took a year of literally knocking on doors and fighting,” he explains. The company lost money in 2018 but expects to be in the black this year.

Rivals, such as Green Line Trips, Weedology, Dope Tours and Food High, cropped up over the first few months after recreational pot use was legalised.
CBD oil potential game changer for athletes, ushering in wave of medical marijuana treatments
Grozovskiy’s tour takes about four hours and includes a visit to a dispensary – selling not only weed but also confectioneries, chocolate and other edibles – a local growing facility, a bong factory and a house for smoking. It costs US$89.
Rather than typical Hollywood tour stops, Grozovskiy’s bus will take patrons to experiences like a smoking session with actor Tommy Chong from That ’70s Show, for US$179. In the future, he hopes to bring other celebrities on board, such as Snoop Dogg.
Guide Ryan Lance told the story of cannabis and how it was first used as medicine in the United States before being outlawed. Now its recreational use is legal in 10 US states, including California, and in the capital, Washington.

Among the major changes since legalisation, marijuana-linked arrests have declined sharply – down from millions in recent decades.
In the dispensary, manager Scott B, who won’t give his last name, details the various types of marijuana plants that exist.
China tells citizens in Canada not to smoke marijuana
He also describes how to tell female from male plants, how they are crossed, and the light and water the plants need to thrive.
The manager details worrisome state taxes, strict tests that can lead to millions of dollars of product being discarded and how some companies employ five-year-old children to test the safety of their packaging.

Dan Chlebanowski, 30, who has been a pot lover since his teenage years, listens closely.
“I think any time you’re interested in something, and anytime you can see the behind-the-scenes aspect of that, it’s always fun,” he says.
“I mean you see it at Disneyland, you see it here in Hollywood, why not for cannabis, you know?”
Thailand blocks foreign firms from distributing medical marijuana
Legalisation was critical to the launch of pot-related tourism ventures. And yet the overall marijuana industry has not surged as many predicted.
Arcview, a firm specialising in the cannabis market, reported a drop in the state’s sales between 2017 and 2018, from US$3 billion to US$2.5 billion.

“The decline is slight, but remarkable given that we projected a very rapid growth,” says Arcview vice-president David Abernathy.
California’s pot legalisation means that anyone over the age of 21 – the same limit for drinking alcohol – can have up to one ounce (28.3 grams) of grass.
‘Year for cannabis’ is almost over, but South Africa is still waiting for weed industry explosion
Producers, distributors and sellers must apply for city and state licences, and adapt their products to meet tough legal requirements.
The measures have led to a “very developed and robust illicit market” of businesses that won’t comply with the new law and can thus avoid charging astronomical taxes that can reach 35 per cent, Abernathy says.

Alex Traverso, head of communications at the California Bureau of Cannabis Control responsible for regulating the industry, says several measures will be approved in the state legislature that may ease the current tough regulations.
The impact of the high prices is so great that Felicia Davis, who was on the tour, said she would not vote for similar legalisation in Wisconsin, where she lives.
She prefers to pay less on the black market. “I have my connections,” she says with a smile.


How China’s ‘Excalibur of the East’ souvenir swords sparked airport security warning

How Chinamania, Japonisme shaped James McNeill Whistler’s art, now on view at Tate Britain

Hong Kong retail sales rise 8.6% in April, but ‘full recovery has yet to emerge’

He got drunk and bought a motel. Stories behind Route 66 motel owners

Tourism

Marijuana tourism in Los Angeles: bong factory, dope farm, dispensary and a smoke with Tommy Chong

Tour members browse at a factory outlet selling bongs, rigs, pipes and other marijuana paraphernalia on the last stop of a cannabis tour organized by L.A.-based Green Tours, January 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. - Los Angeles, in 2016, became the largest city in the world where cannabis is legal, many guides offer tourists the opportunity to immerse themselves in this industry. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Cannabis tourists on a tour organized by L.A.-based Green Tours, watch a glass blower as he makes a bong, January 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. - Los Angeles, in 2016, became the largest city in the world where cannabis is legal, many guides offer tourists the opportunity to immerse themselves in this industry. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

The California Compassionate Care Network (CCCN) marijuana dispensary's grow operation is one of the stops on the cannabis tour organized by L.A.-based Green Tours, January 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. - Los Angeles, in 2016, became the largest city in the world where cannabis is legal, many guides offer tourists the opportunity to immerse themselves in this industry. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Gene Grozovskiy, the founder of Green Tours which takes visitors behind the scenes of California's estimated $7-billion cannabis industry, poses for a photo, January 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. - Los Angeles, in 2016, became the largest city in the world where cannabis is legal, many guides offer tourists the opportunity to immerse themselves in this industry. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

L.A.-based Green Tours owner Gene Grozovskiy shows his cannabis tourists hand-blown bongs during a stop at a glass blowing factory specializing in bongs, January 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. - Los Angeles, in 2016, became the largest city in the world where cannabis is legal, many guides offer tourists the opportunity to immerse themselves in this industry. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Bongs and other marijuana paraphernalia is displayed for sale at a factory outlet on the last stop of a cannabis tour organized by L.A.-based Green Tours, January 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. - Los Angeles, in 2016, became the largest city in the world where cannabis is legal, many guides offer tourists the opportunity to immerse themselves in this industry. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Cannabis tour guide Ryan Lance (left) explains to tour members how to prepare a dab rig [used to smoke marijuana concentrate or oil] as his tour group makes a stop. Photo: Robyn Beck

Green gold rush: Thailand, Malaysia race to legalise medical marijuana

A medical marijuana plantation. Photo: Reuters

An assortment of seized narcotics including heroin, opium, and marijuana weighing over 1,000 kilograms burn in a giant bonfire at Bangkok's Metropolitan Police school celebrating the United Nation's international day against narcotics Wednesday, June 26, 1996. According to a report from Interpol on the region's drug trade, seizures of narcotics have dropped over the past two years while smuggling routes have proliferated. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Cannabis plants in Winnipeg, Canada. Photo: Bloomberg

People hold up a Canadian flag with a marijuana logo on it outside a government cannabis store in Montreal, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

CBD: the people who understand the potential of medicinal marijuana, and the officials who don’t

A marijuana plant in a greenhouse in Mendocino County, California. Photo: Josh Edelson

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 20, 2016 showing a woman waving a flag with a marijuana leaf on it during a rally to celebrate National Marijuana Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. Canada's Senate passed a law Thursday legalizing recreational marijuana, moving it closer to becoming the first member of the Group of Seven nations to legalize the production, sale and consumption of the drug. / AFP PHOTO / Chris Roussakis

FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2012 file photo, an Israeli woman works at Tikkun Olam medical cannabis farm, near the northern Israeli city of Safed, Israel. Late Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, Israel's parliament unanimously approved a law to permit exports of medical marijuana, allowing Israel to tap the lucrative global market. Israel will become the third country, after the Netherlands and Canada, to take its medical cannabis global. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty, File)

R5C6R5 Hemp oil nutritional supplement containing CBD, cannabidiol.

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2018 file photo, Jean Marc looks at a sample at a cannabis store in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When Canada legalized recreational marijuana in October, it emerged as the world leader in the industry - and U.S. companies are scrambling to get in on the action. Uruguay may have been the first country to legalize pot, but the South American country's market is dwarfed by Canada's. And while a majority of U.S. states have legalized marijuana to varying degrees, contradictory federal laws have U.S. companies reluctant to invest here. So they are sending their money north.(John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

KRJH5R Happy senior woman smelling Cannabis plant

CBD oil potential game changer for athletes, ushering in wave of medical marijuana treatments

CBD oil, which is derived from marijuana plants, has made its way into corners of the athletic community as a pain management option. Photo: Shutterstock

OAKLAND, CA - JUNE 01: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media before Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 1, 2017 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Flowering medicinal marijuana plants at Tweed INC in Smith Falls, Ontario December 5 , 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Lars Hagberg

A farmer in Sunwu county, Heilongjiang harvesting two-metre tall marijuana plants with machine. 24JUL17. Handout.

Thailand blocks foreign firms from distributing medical marijuana

The military government issued a special executive order to revoke all pending patents that involve cannabis. Photo: AP

A Thai activist with a marijuana tattoo on his face gathers with others during a campaign for the legalisation of medical marijuana near Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, November 20, 2018. Picture taken November 20, 2018. REUTERS/Panumas Sanguanwong

New Zealand embraces medical marijuana with new law, now campaigners set sights on broader legalisation

The law would also pave the way for New Zealand companies to manufacture medicinal cannabis products for both the local and international market. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2018, file photo, a police officer shows buds of marijuana before a news conference Bangkok, Thailand. On Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, New Zealand's government passed a law that will make medical marijuana widely available for thousands of patients over time. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

Since recreational marijuana was legalised in California in 2016, a number of tours have sprung up around the city
For US$89 Green Tours takes customers to a dispensary, marijuana growing facility, a bong maker and a smoking house


Since recreational marijuana was legalised in California in 2016, a number of tours have sprung up around the city. Green Tours takes customers to a dispensary, local growing facility, a bong maker and a smoking house.


Drugs

United States

Snoop Dogg