Celebrate the holidaze with Verilife in Maryland. Check out top picks from Magnitude, P3, and matter. at Verilife’s three Maryland locations.

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Celebrate the holidaze in style with Verilife in Illinois. Top brands like Magnitude and matter. have the cannabis gifts for the top of your list.

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At Verilife, there’s always a stocked selection of top products and new favorites in store. Find the location nearest you to start saving green today. 

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Stock up for the holidays on Green Wednesday.

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Although the official city-sanctioned 4/20 celebration on Hippie Hill in San Francisco was canceled this year, it still attracted thousands of people to gather on the holiday.

According to a report from SFGate, whose representatives spoke with some of the attendees, the cancellation didn’t hinder anyone’s plans. Jessica Leung told SFGate that she was excited to be there and surprised by the amount of people who still showed up. “4/20 is my favorite holiday,” Leung said.

The lower part of the hill was roped off with chains to host a “Peace, Love and Volo Field Day,” free event, inviting people to play cornhole, kickball, and volleyball. The upper part of the hill was deemed the “spectator area” for fans to chill on the lawn in the sun. Other vendors attended as well, selling art portraits and various other goods. Food trucks were also in attendance, which led to long lines.

Past city-sanctioned 4/20 celebrations at Hippie Hill included on-site portable toilets, medical support, and an increase in hired staff. Even though the official event was canceled, the city was still able to provide portable restrooms and San Francisco Recreation and Parks staff to patrol the area.

Some attendees commented on the people’s drive to celebrate. One longtime 4/20 celebrator, Chandra Edelstein, said that there was more freedom at this year’s event now that it had less city restrictions. “I expected it to be packed,” said Edelstein. “People still flock here and the energy is amazing.”

Another visitor, Alex Diaz, added that they planned to be there regardless of city involvement. “We’re out here to have a good time, and not expecting anything,” Diaz said.

Attendee Dalano Rhyne said that she prefers this year’s “scaled-down” version of the event. “I’m here I’m doing my own thing … so I’m having a good day and this was blank when I got here, so that’s a great day,” Rhyne said as she put together a cardboard art installation featuring signatures and drawings from other attendees.

Steve Banuelos and his group of longtime friends said they were hesitant to attend after the event cancellation, but decided to go anyway because “it may turn out to be something.” “Well, we’re all retired now, so what the hell else are we going to do with our time?” Banuelos said.

The 2023 Hippie Hill event was a massive gathering, which featured Erykah Badu as grand marshal and instructed attendees to “Put your weed in the air” at 4:20pm. “For a lot of us, this is our medicine,” Badu said. “This shit is here to take you to a higher place.”

Last year’s event also featured a “King of Z Hill” competition pitting growers against each other for the title of best weed and best concentrates. “Some of the most exotic flavors in the world come out of the West Coast right here in San Francisco,” said King of Z Hill organizer, Brandon Parker.

One competitor, SoCal Dank’s Joe Evans, explained that competitions like King of Z Hill aren’t about winning, but networking with others. This certainly attests to the evolution of the cannabis industry over the years, and the stark differences between the 2023 and 2024 Hippie Hill events.

This year’s Hippie Hill event cancellation was announced on March 25, citing city budget cuts and a lack of sponsors. However, the organizers did confirm that the sponsored event should be returning in 2025.

The cancellation paved the way for other celebratory events to take the spotlight. SF Weed Week held its inaugural event, celebrating 4/20 in a variety of ways through the week leading up to 4/20. SF Weed Week founding advisor, Ben Grambergu, explained the importance of spotlighting local growers. “The organizers of Hippie Hill deserved a break, and SF Weed Week is here to extend the celebration across the entire city with the best cultivators in the world sharing their gift with the most dedicated enthusiasts in the world,” said Grambergu. “Look, the Bay Area has and always will be an epicenter of cannabis culture. SF Weed Week is proving to the doom loop haters that the scene is thriving. With a week full of incredible activations, world-class cannabis, and meet and greets with the rockstars who produced it; this event has something for everyone.”

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art recently put up a new display at its gift shop to sell ceramic bongs. Each of the pieces are part of a collection called Weed’d, which are beautiful display-worthy items ranging between $50-$195. According to museum store buyer Camille Verboort, they chose this selection of bongs because they offered “sculptural quality and bold primary colors.”

Verboort added that since the museum features alcohol-related items, it’s time for them to also feature cannabis-related items as well. “We currently sell bar items quite well and, this being San Francisco, thought we could make room for cannabis accessories if we found designs that made sense for us,” Verboort said.

Weed’d is created by Italian designers who sought to “challenge the traditional narrative” and stigma often associated with bongs. One designer, Maddalena Casadei, shared that she had never used a bong before, which allowed her to experiment with the design process. ‘“The round shapes go along with the softness of the experience of using it. It is in fact designed to give pleasure through touch as well,” Casadei said.

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At a recent legislative meeting by the Washington, D.C.’s Council of the District of Columbia meeting on April 2, the council unanimously approved the “Medical Cannabis Patient Card Extension 4/20 Medical Cannabis Sales Tax Holiday Week Emergency Amendment Act of 2024,” which addresses three primary changes by amending the DC Official Code Title 7.

First, it makes medical cannabis patient and caregiver cards now valid for six years (previously it lasted only two years before requiring renewal).

Second, it provides the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) with “emergency closure authority.” This gives the agency power to close unlicensed cannabis retailers and seize “any” cannabis products if it poses a threat to the safety of the public.

And finally, it extends the currently existing medical cannabis tax holiday (April 20-24, which was approved in 2022) to now last between April 15 to April 28.

According to councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, the measure is essential to the success of the district’s medical cannabis industry. “The popular tax holiday is critical to the district’s effort to attract qualifying patients back to the legal market as well as sustainable and viable medical cannabis program,” McDuffie said.

Prior to the measure being passed, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote about pending legislation being considered by the council, urging them to consider the tax holiday extension. “This change will improve patient access to the program and would make the District consistent with Maryland’s six-year medical cannabis patient card,” Bowser wrote. “The bill further supports our local industry by implementing a Medical Cannabis Tax Holiday, which temporarily suspends sales taxes for purchases made at licensed medical cannabis dispensaries.”

She added that approving the ABCA’s power to shut down illegal cannabis stores is crucial. “Most importantly, this measure explicitly authorizes the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration to close unlicensed cannabis retail stores,” Bowser explained. “As we saw in the recent tragic murder inside an unlicensed cannabis dispensary, these unlicensed stores pose a direct threat to our communities and we must take strong action to shut down bad actors.”

The murder that Bowser referenced includes the death of local rapper, Phil Da Phuture, who was working at a dispensary when a robbery took place. Although he cooperated with the robbers, he was shot, and later died at a nearby hospital.

During the meeting, council members said that there are approximately 200 illegal dispensaries operating through Washington, D.C., and only 70 of which have applied for a license.

The council also chose to veto a measure that would have changed zoning rules for placing dispensaries near schools, and discussed another measure that seeks to revisit the authority of the ABCA.

Currently, dispensaries must be located at least 300 feet away from schools or recreational areas that children frequent, although medical cannabis dispensaries are exempt from this if they stand in an industrial or commercial area. “This emergency legislation would remove that exception and prohibit all medical cannabis retailers from locating within 300 feet of schools or recreation centers,” said councilmember Brooke Pinto, who added that if passed, it would “…allow affected applicants to change their locations without negatively impacting their locations.”

Only two dispensaries would be affected by the measure if it was passed, but McDuffie explained his disapproval. “It is tough work to find a location,” McDuffie said, adding that qualifying real estate in Washington, D.C. “…is not readily accessible when it comes to what they are required to use and the restrictions we put on them in terms of where they can locate. So I can’t support this.”

Washington D.C. passed an initiative to remove criminal penalties for minor cannabis offenses in July 2014, which was followed by the passage of an initiative to tax and regulate adult-use cannabis in November 2014, which became effective in February 2015.

Earlier this year in January, the council passed emergency legislation that cracks down on illegal dispensaries relying on the “gifting” loophole to make sales. “This gap in the law, if not fixed, will render the onramp meaningless, allow unlicensed establishments that do not apply to keep on operating, and significantly harm the good actors that have applied,” said councilmember Charles Allen in a January council meeting.

The ABCA can now “issue warnings, fines, and cease-and-desist orders to unlicensed businesses that have not applied to the medical cannabis program,” according to a report from the DCist.

Unfortunately, a local illegal dispensary called Kaliiva which had already started its transition from operating illegally to applying for a legal license recently raided earlier last month. Kaliiva was one of the first illegal dispensaries to receive a placard, according to The Outlaw Report, which is the first step toward receiving a license. The DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), as well as the Department of Health, and the DC Licensing and Consumer Protection, have the power to conduct inspections on their own accord, despite what the ABCA has established.

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Find high-quality hemp products for the holidays like 3CHI’s new True Strains gummies. Unwrap these treasures & find the product for you.

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A recent report released by AYR Wellness discovered shifting trends and popularity of cannabis consumption activities on 4/20. More than 900 cannabis consumer participants, ranging in age between 21-74 years old, were asked a variety of questions between February and March.

According to AYR Wellness President and CEO David Goubert, the study sheds some new light on cannabis continuing to grow in popularity. “Our 4/20 survey proves that the unofficial cannabis holiday continues to hold a special place in the hearts of consumers, with nearly 40% planning to take off work to celebrate,” Goubert said, according to Forbes. “The data also uncovered some compelling findings around how people prefer to consume cannabis—from who they consume with to formats they prefer consuming with—that AYR can use to create more meaningful engagements with our customers.”

Goubert referred to the statistic that 39% of participants stating that they were planning on taking time off for 4/20. Additionally, 31% of participants said that 4/20 is a “special occasion” (and specifically 42% of medical cannabis consumers also believe that 420 is a “special day”).

However, 71% of participants said that their consumption habits won’t change on 4/20, while 23% said that they plan to consume more cannabis than they usually do.

For those who admitted that they plan to celebrate, 70% of them said that they were interested in trying beverages or beverage enhancers. For those who prefer flower, the study also found that 61% of participants choose to break up their flower with their hands rather than use a grinder (an answer shared by 73% of those between the ages of 55-74).

April falls on a Thursday this year, and because it lands on a weekday, 73% of consumers said they’ll be consuming after 5pm (and 47% will consume later in the evening after 10pm). While 78% of consumers intend to consume on their own, 43% are “somewhat comfortable” spending time with others while using cannabis, 45% said they are “somewhat comfortable” being under the influence in public, and 44% are “somewhat comfortable” consuming at a social gathering where cannabis is not being consumed by everyone involved.

A new trend is also beginning to rise for some cannabis companies who have opted to give their employees paid time off to celebrate the holiday, such as Massachusetts-based Temescal Wellness. “4/20 is a day to show appreciation, love and respect for cannabis and its power to help amplify the health and happiness that people experience in their daily lives,” said Temescal Wellness Director of Retail and Customer Engagement Sian Leininger. “For us, it’s a day to celebrate our employees, whose passion, knowledge and true dedication inspires their unparalleled service to our customers and our community all of the other days of the year.”

Likewise, Sacramento-based Conception Nurseries announced on April 6 that April 20 would be a paid holiday as well. “The paid holiday is the company’s way of showing gratitude for the hard work and dedication of our employees,” said Conception Nurseries founder and CEO, Kevin Brooks. “Taking the day also gives us a chance to reflect on what our hard work in this industry is for—where we have come from and where we are going.”

April 20 events are returning in full swing this year now that the dangers of the pandemic have subsided, and sales are expected to break more records. Last year, $485.3 million in cannabis sales was collected over the entire time frame between Friday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 20, according to data collected by Akerna. A recent report from Fortune projects that the cannabis industry as a whole could reach up to $35.5 billion by the end of the year, and approximately $57 billion by 2028.

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According to Temescal Wellness Director of Retail and Customer Engagement, Sian Leininger, this honors both cannabis culture as well as employees. “4/20 is a day to show appreciation, love and respect for cannabis and its power to help amplify the health and happiness that people experience in their daily lives,” Leininger said in a press statement. “For us, it’s a day to celebrate our employees, whose passion, knowledge and true dedication inspires their unparalleled service to our customers and our community all of the other days of the year.”

The paid holiday extends to retail employees, as well as production facilities and corporate offices as well. Leininger added that closing up shop on one of the biggest days of the year isn’t as important as the wellbeing of their employees. “One of our core company values is wellness—and that means the wellness of our customers, our community, and our entire team,” said Leininger. “While 4/20 is one of our most profitable days, we hope making it a paid holiday off for our team elevates it as a day for everyone to celebrate cannabis and the community around it.”

To supplement the April 20 holiday closure, Temescal Wellness is offering various price offers and “its most comprehensive menu to date” throughout the month of April.

According to a 2022 sales report from Akerna, cannabis sales were high during the entire week and weekend leading up to the unofficial holiday. Last year 4/20 landed on a Wednesday, and while that day did see the highest amount of money collected from sales between April 15-20, sales from Friday, April 15, 2022 were a close second. The data company also recorded that sales overall in 2022 were less than that of 2021.

This year, 420 is gearing up to be another massive celebration of the plant. Many events are returning, some for the first time since the pandemic hit. 4/20 at Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco will not only be returning in full swing, but it’s also live streaming the event for those who can’t attend in person (for a fee). The Mile High 420 Festival returns to Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado on April 20 as well. The National Cannabis Festival will be held at the RFK Festival Grounds in Washington, D.C. on April 22. Even Willie Nelson, who’s turning 90 this year on April 29, is holding a one-of-a-kind concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California that features not just him, but a massive cast of musicians.

April 20 has gone from underground, “unofficial” holiday to actual holiday over the past few years, as medical and recreational legalization has spread throughout the country. Like many other holidays, such as Saint Patrick’s Day or Christmas, the origin of 420 has become a legend. There are many variations of its origin and who was involved, but most believe that students of San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California (referred to as the 420 Waldos) coined the term to secretly communicate a meet-up time to smoke cannabis at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur. 

High Times Magazine Editor-in-Chief Ellen Holland went to check out the statue last year, but the statue was in storage until campus construction was completed. Her 420 pilgrimage of sorts led her to a few 4/20 parties as she detailed her journey in her article “Finding 420.”

Do you think that April 20 should be a paid holiday for everyone who works in the cannabis industry? How would you choose to celebrate if you got the day off? Let us know in the comments!

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At the finale of the Christmas show last year in Eugene, OR, I came out as a skid-row Santa, complete with rubber nose, plastic sack full of beer cans, and a pint of peppermint schnapps to fortify the holiday spirit. I also borrowed my wife Faye’s blue egg bucket and labeled it: “Homeless.” I’d jangle the cans like a bagful of aluminum sleigh bells while I worked the mainfloor aisle seats: “Hey, come on, buddy. Put something in the bucket, for Chrissakes. Don’t you know it’s Christmastime? Hey, that’s better. God bless you. You’re beautiful.”

I ended up with only about seventy-five bucks. Not much of a take for a full house at a Christmas show. But even seventy-five bucks was a wad too big to pocket. So after I got out of my red suit and rubber snoot I drove off to seek a worthy recipient. I spotted a likely assortment of candidates in the 7-Eleven parking lot, on the corner of Sixth and Blair. I swung in and held the bucket out the window.

“All right. Who’s the hardest-luck case in this lot?”

The candidates looked me over and edged away—all but one guy, pony-tailed and slope-shouldered, his chin tucked down in the collar of a canvas camouflage jacket. “I got a streak of hard luck runs all the way back to New Jersey,” he said. “What about it?”

“I’m on a mission from St. Nicholas,” I told him. “And if you are, in fact, the least fortunate of the lot”—in the spirit of the season, I refrained from saying “biggest loser”—”then this could be your lucky night.”

“Right,” he said. “You’re some kind of Holy Roller? Where’s the string? What’s the hustle?”

“No string, no catch, no hustle. I’m giving. You’re getting. Get it?”

He did. He took the money and ran, taking Faye’s egg bucket into the bargain. The last I saw of him, he was scurrying away, looking for a hole.

Since then, I’ve wondered about him. Did that little windfall make a difference? Did he rent a cheap room? Get a bath? A companion? Every time I found myself passing through one of Eugene’s hard-luck harbors, I kept half an eye peeled for the sight of a long tail of black hair draggling down the back of a camouflage jacket. Last week, a year later to the day, I made a sighting.

I was in town with Faye and our daughter, getting in some Christmas shopping before we rendezvoused with my mom for supper. We’d done a couple of hours in the malls, and I was shopped out. I announced that I wanted to make some private purchases, and slipped off into the rainy cold—alone. I was headed for the liquor store on Eighth, thinking the spirit could use a little fortification. But the trusty peppermint wasn’t powerful enough. These hometown streets are just too strange, too vacant, too sad. Corner of Sixth at Olive: empty. The great Dangold Creamery that my dad built up from a little Eugene farmer’s cooperative: bulldozed down. I ducked my head and kept walking in the rain.

The street in my memory was the clearer path anyway: John Warren’s Hardware over there, where you could buy blasting powder across the counter; the Corral Novelty Shop, where you could buy itching powder; the Heilig Theater, with its all-the-way-across-the-street arch, flashing what we all took to be the Norwegian word for “hello,” so big it could be read all the way from the windows of the arriving trains: “Heilig, Heilig, Heilig.” All gone.

When I reached the city center, I noticed that the thing people had finally given up trying to call a fountain was newly disguised with pine boughs and potted plants. But to no avail. It still looked like the remnants of a bombed-out French cathedral. Then, when the rain eased up, I was surprised to discover that the ruins were not quite deserted: I saw a loose black braid hanging down the back of a camouflage jacket. That seemed right. He was in the old fountain’s basin, bent in a concealing crouch at one of the potted pines.

I came up from behind and clapped my hand on his shoulder. “Whatcha doin’, Hard Luck? Counting another bucket of money?”

He wheeled around and had my wrist clamped in a bone-breaking grasp before I could finish the word. I saw then that this wasn’t a chinless street rat standing down in the basin after all. This was a block-jawed American Indian built like two fireplugs, sitting in a wheelchair.

“Ouch! Man! Let go! I thought you were somebody else!”

He eased the hold, but kept the wrist. I told him about last year’s longhair and the matching jacket.

He listened, studying my eyes. “OK. Sorry about the twist. I was taking a leak. You surprised me. Let’s get out of the rain and see what kind of medicine you’ve got sticking out of your pocket.”

We retired under some scaffolding. He was less than enthusiastic about my choice of pocket medicine. “I’d rather drink something like Southern Comfort if I have to choose a sugar drink,” he said. But we passed the pint back and forth and watched the rain.

He leaned to spit and a folded Army blanket slipped out of his lap. His legs were as gone as the main gut of my poor hometown.

He was a part-time fillet man from the Pike Place Market, up in Seattle, on his way to spend Christmas with family on “the rez,” outside of Albuquerque. His bus was laid up for a couple of hours: “I think they’re getting the Greyhound spayed before she gets to California.”

When the pint was about three-quarters gone, I screwed on the lid and held it out. “I gotta meet the women. Go ahead and keep it.”

“Ah, I guess not,” he said.

“You’re pretty choosy for a thirsty man, aren’t you? What would be your best druthers?”

“To have the money and make my own choice.”

I reached for my wallet. “I think I got a couple of bucks.”

“And a quarter? If I had two bucks and a quarter, I could get a pint of Ten High. With four and change I’d go on to a fair-to-middlin’ fifth. Cream of Kentucky.”

I hesitated. Was I being hustled? “OK, Let’s see what we’ve got.” I emptied the wallet and pockets onto his blanket. He added a few coins and counted the collection.

“Nine seventy-five. If I come up with another two dollars, I can get a bottle of Bushmill’s Irish. Think I can panhandle two dollars between here and the liquor store?”

“Without a doubt,” I assured him. “With both panhandles tied behind your back.”

We shook hands goodbye and headed off in our separate directions, strolling and rolling through the rain. At the restaurant, my mother wanted to know what I was thinking about that gave me such a goofy grin.

“I was just thinking, if beggars can’t be choosers, then it must follow that choosers, by definition, are not beggars.”

This year for the Christmas show, Santa’s got himself a classier outfit and wrangled some holiday helpers out of the high-school choir. God bless ’em. And we’re gonna work all the aisles. Come on out here you helpers, come on out. Get down there and panhandle! And you guys in the audience start passing your money to the aisles here. This is no time to nickel-and-dime, for Chrissakes! It’s Christmastime.

Ken Kesey, one of the Merry Pranksters, is the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes A Great Notion.

Read the full issue here.

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