Weed tourism is heading to Atlantic City. It may not be what you expect.

BILL BARLOW For The Press

ATLANTIC CITY — Years later than promised, Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday signed three bills bringing legal weed to New Jersey.

A little later in the week, about 100 people attended a virtual event to hear about ways in which legal cannabis can be a boon to the gaming, hospitality and tourism industries, and how preparation should begin now.

Most experts say it will still be at least another year before the first taxed and legal sales take place in New Jersey, aside from the already-established medicinal market. Once it gets rolling, adult-use sales are expected to be worth billions statewide.

Some of those sales will almost certainly be to out-of-state visitors, as the new market draws people from New York, Philadelphia and beyond to Jersey dispensaries.

If you’re picturing a smoky, raucous tour bus loaded with stoned tourists, you may want to think again. Smoking is the least popular means of ingesting cannabis, and cannabis-motivated travelers have little interest in party buses, participants in a virtual conference on marijuana and tourism heard Wednesday.

Instead, those attending “Destination Cannabis: Insight for New Jersey Hospitality and Tourism” heard about gourmet infusions combining seasonal ingredients and marijuana and about a thirst for education and cultural experiences.

The virtual event was presented by the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University in partnership with the Greater Atlantic City Chamber and Stockton University Cannabis Studies program. About 100 people attended.

The wide-ranging discussion covered how people in the hospitality industry should prepare before the new industry arrives, and what visitors will want once those over 21 can legally buy marijuana in the state.

With one medical marijuana dispensary on the Boardwalk and another expected to open, not to mention a casino industry already oriented toward adults, Atlantic City is expected to see a considerable impact from legal cannabis.

“In Atlantic City, the casinos have such a big challenge. Their audience has been really down trending, and of course they’re going to be struggling with, ‘What do we do with this? Do we want this in the casinos? Is it going to slow down play?’” said Rob Mejia, an adjunct professor at Stockton in the Cannabis Studies Department. He is also the president of Our Community Harvest, a cannabis education company.

A place to start, Mejia said, would be partnerships between casinos or hotels and dispensaries, which could mean an investment of little more than some coupons and education for the guests. Big questions remain.

Most hotels do not allow smoking, and New Jersey’s new cannabis laws prohibit consumption in public, including on beaches and in parks. For the most part, even with marijuana legalization, smoking, vaping or eating an edible will only be legal in private homes. One possibility Mejia mentioned was consumption lounges, either connected to a dispensary or independent, where visitors can have a cannabis product with friends and others.

“In about a year, maybe you could go to a consumption lounge right here in Atlantic City,” he said. These spaces could include concerts or comedy performances, he suggested, with the idea that people could spend time there while feeling the effects.

One big takeaway from the event — people are not just after stronger and stronger cannabis. Instead, they want to enjoy themselves. Mejia suggested combining yoga and cannabis and other proposals that bring together wellness and the cannabis experience.

A recent study showed the cannabis traveler is not necessarily the daily cannabis user, said Brian Applegarth, founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association. He said studies have shown many want a cannabis- related experience and are unfamiliar with the effects and varieties.

He described cannabis tourism as an emerging trend in travel. The tourists want to be educated about the plant and to have an experience, he said. Many have never tried marijuana before.

Many are self-described foodies, he said, and are very into nature. They also tend to be wine enthusiasts, he said, citing studies.

“In California, a lot of the discussion is about food, with cannabis as an ingredient,” he said.

David Yusefzadeh, the founder of Cloud Creamery in Massachusetts, said people also want a better quality of cannabis edible. Most of what is on the market now is something close to candy, he said. Instead, cannabis can be an ingredient in its own right, not something to be hidden in sugar and gummies.

He described a locally sourced, cannabis-infused sorbet of heirloom tomatoes and a much different model of cannabis consumption, in which visitors will stay at a resort and enjoy a marijuana-infused brunch.

“They wouldn’t have to go anywhere afterward,” he said.

He was not surprised that party buses would not seem attractive.

“I think most people don’t want to be in motion when they’re trying something new and they’re not sure how it’s going to affect them,” Yusefzadeh said. Instead, he said, they want a relaxing experience in nature, such as beachfront dining.

He said he was trying to convince all of his chef friends who are out of work due to COVID-19 to consider getting into cannabis. Most of the people producing edibles have no food background, he said.

Once New Jersey’s legal market is up and running, all of the marijuana sold in the state will need to be produced in the state. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, which means there can be no interstate commerce, including shipping cannabis-infused goodies from Colorado or Massachusetts. That could mean more jobs locally as a new cannabis industry gets off the ground. But the growing interest is not limited to marijuana. A change in federal law has made hemp-derived CBD readily available. The chemical is a cousin to THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but does not produce a “high.”

In New Jersey, products containing CBD are already popular, Mejia said. Cintia Morales, the fourth presenter at the event, is the director of education and outreach for Higher Ed Hemp Tours in Austin, Texas. The state does not have a legal adult use market, but she said she has seen a rapid growth of interest in tours, especially those that offer an education component.

Some stigma also remains, she said, mentioning that some restaurants did not want her tours to stop there for lunch.

When dispensaries first open, there will likely be lines around the block and a great deal of consumer enthusiasm. That will pass before long, Mejia told the conference, with cannabis eventually becoming a normal part of the marketplace.