Hotels Are Confused by Rise of Legal Marijuana: Opportunity or Liability?
Photo Credit: Many hotels in states where marijuana is legal are grappling with how to handle it under confusing laws. Adobe / luckyguy123
Skift Take
The legalization of marijuana by states is getting murkier in the eyes of the federal government, which has still not legalized pot. Thirty-three states have, meaning that hotels have to deal with it whether they like it or not. Some hotels are embracing certain forms of cannabis. Others don’t want the potential liability. How do they figure out what to do?
The legalization of marijuana in many states is becoming an increasingly perplexing challenge for one key part of the travel industry: hotels.
They're confronted with figuring out how to let guests partake in it on-property, training and drug testing employees, and dealing with confusing and ever-changing laws. In short, hotels have much to figure out.
“This is an emerging trend that’s not going away,” said Michael Blank, principal of Woodmont Lodging. “In many ways, it’s akin to the casinos when they were trying to make their push nationally.”
Marijuana is now legal for medical use in 33 states. It is legal in 11 states for both medical and recreational use for adults over 21. Illinois became the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana as of Jan. 1.
Yet under federal law, it's still a drug listed on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, which makes it a federal crime to own, sell, or possess it. Other drugs listed on Schedule 1 include heroin, LSD,
