In California, this year’s unofficial pot holiday could be the last that users have to call for legalization, with an initiative expected on the November ballot.
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“It’s pretty chill”, said Erik Elder, 19, a college student who traveled from Sacramento with friends.
Officially, marijuana is legal in California for medical purposes but it’s illegal to use it for recreation, but that could change soon.
Public consumption remains illegal under the state’s recreational pot law, which was passed in 2012, but police mostly looked on as a cloud of marijuana smoke rose above the crowd. California is one of several states where advocates are pushing to follow suit.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed told the AP that the annual event costs the city between $80,000 to $100,000 each year, due to the hiring of public safety officials and trash collectors. With cannabis holiday 4/20 quickly approaching this week, some Sanders supporters have started an online campaign encouraging others to donate $4.20 (or $42 or $420) to Sanders’ war chest on April 20 to “send a message to the establishment that alone we’re harmless bees but together we’re a ferocious swarm that will not be silenced”.
Marijuana magazine High Times has written that the concept of 4/20 originated in the early 1970s, as a group of teenagers in the Bay Area city of San Rafael used it as code to gather after school and smoke the drug.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency closed streets around the east end of the park while deploying additional parking enforcement officers to help manage traffic.
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Most of the money goes to cleanup afterward. Crews have cleaned up more than 5 tons of trash in previous years, Breed said.
