Ask a Stoner: What's the Fuss About 4/20?

Westword

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Dear Stoner: Is 4/20 really that big of a deal? Other than a free concert drawing a bunch of potheads, I don't see the fuss.
Kareem

Dear Kareem: Unlike alcohol, cannabis isn’t generally used to socially celebrate holidays, unofficial or not. No disrespect toward the Irish or Latino communities, but tons of people only celebrate St. Paddy’s or Cinco de Mayo because of all the alcohol that comes with them. Same goes for the Super Bowl, Veterans Day, Memorial Day and July 4.

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Westword

If there had been a day dedicated to guzzling booze in the Prohibition-era ’20s, it would likely have carried a political connotation, and only the diehards would have been out drinking publicly. That’s basically the gist of 4/20: Even though marijuana is now legal in many states, advocates and heavy users come out loud, while most cannabis consumers still don’t want their identities to be based on smoking pot and so abstain from doing much publicly. But celebrations are still happening.

According to dispensary sales tracker BDS Analytics, legal cannabis sales spike in the third week of April for pot shops in Colorado and across the country, with overall sales almost tripling on April 20, 2018, compared to other days that month. Cannabis is also much cheaper around 4/20, which is viewed as the Black Friday of weed. So people are obviously buying on a much higher level that week — but mostly consuming on their couches.

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