“Defining deviance by lowering it” — Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous phrase about lowering the standards for what is considered acceptable behavior, now means defining dope luxury.
“Cannabis presented through a luxury lens” is the motto of a new three-story marijuana emporium called Charlie Fox at 719 Seventh Avenue at West 49th Street in Manhattan, opening in December.
The 6,000-square-foot store sells fewer ganja and related products than the Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardines, which sells a variety of canned fish around the corner. It’s only slightly less.
All in a clean, non-threatening, wood-paneled environment. Unlike the hundreds of stinky, unlicensed weed dealers who resist city enforcement, or the slightly less creepy legal weed dealers. At a preview a few days ago, it looked like a supper club with a bar and DJ on the second floor.
Charlie Fox is part of a new kind of marijuana store licensed by New York State that aims to recreate the experience of a high-fashion boutique or museum. These are a growing number of the Big Apple’s estimated 60 legal dispensaries, not to mention the hundreds of illegal dispensaries that defy city enforcement. These mean that abandoning the careless chemical indulgences that tear at the social fabric of the lower classes is now not only welcome, but celebrated to the crowds consuming fine wine and attending dinner parties. are.
So we can find stores like Charlie Fox’s “upscale” predecessor, Travel Agency in Union Square. Union Square is one of the company’s three stores in the city, and has the feel of a Madison Avenue fashion boutique. Gotham in the East Village is “informed by New York City’s art, fashion, and culture scene,” according to weed industry chronicler Fast Company. Located on West Broadway in SoHo, Dagmar Cannabis is “inspired by SoHo’s rich cultural tapestry,” and “seamlessly blends the vibrancy of this iconic neighborhood with the allure of premium cannabis products,” the website says. It is stated in.
You may be wondering, “If marijuana is legal, what’s the harm in selling it in a clean, well-designed store surrounded by expensive sportswear and sweet-smelling herbs?” . Because while most licensed stores can easily be mistaken for unlicensed stores, a reminder of the potential risks, attractive stores suggest that ingesting the psychoactive drug THC is a lifestyle choice, like choosing a glass of wine or a designer jacket. This is because it declares that it is only one of the
But I, and millions of my fellow citizens, know that marijuana is popular with a large number of New Yorkers, including many of our friends who use it responsibly without any negative effects. Despite this, we are fed up with its illegal proliferation.
If you believe that concerns about the dangers of cannabis are only for alarmists of the “reefer madness” era, a vast number of doctors, psychologists, and researchers have discovered that the drug’s dangers beyond medical use are Please know that it is serious enough and warns you that you should not use it. Not decriminalized. Risks include physical and emotional dependence, disruption of normal physical and mental functions, and a tendency to steer users toward more powerful drugs.
There is no need for a warning from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that marijuana “involves real risks that may affect a person’s health and life.”
I remember a long time ago, during my college and post-college years, when friends and fellow students who got high on some supposedly harmless joints endured the kinds of “bad trips” associated with LSD. I knew. One had a psychotic attack in my dorm room, and the other suffered in the parking lot where we met for beers after work.
Of course, today’s pharmaceutically engineered products are far more potent than the crude plants of the hippie era. Earlier this year, after foolishly eating half of a small marijuana cookie he had purchased in the high society of Fulton Street during an investigation into an illegal cannabis shop, he suffered from frightening palpitations, rapid heart rate, and an inability to stand. It bothered me.
Since it was legalized in New York State in March 2021 and glorified as a luxury item like designer dads and watches advertised in Vanity Fair and Vogue, recreational marijuana has had a second-rate, New Age vibe. The word came into use.
Travel agency architect Christopher Long says of his design, “The key idea is how do we create a sanctuary or portal to a new destination?” It sounds awfully like a 1960s promise of psychedelic transport power, but it also sounds like an ad for a 2020s luxury resort or high-rise condominium.
Charlie Fox would have us believe that their products can fine-tune the treble. Its webpage states, “Customers can choose from four different moods: Relax, Sleep, Socialize, and Create, giving them ease of choice and peace of mind.”
I always ask the next employee I meet at Starbucks or Duane Reade how I’m feeling when they get my order wrong, make a mistake with my change, or forget I’m there. I ask.
Legal dispensaries’ pretense of safety and prudence, required by state law, is laughable given their efforts to attract as many customers as possible. These include verifying identity and age, prohibiting displaying cannabis in windows, and, my favorite, locking products so that they require the help of an employee to obtain them. There is.
Of course, we see this every day in New York. But at least I know I won’t be hallucinating using Duane Reade toothpaste.
