April 20 is an important day of the year on the calendar of cannabis connoisseurs. It’s 4/20 — marijuana’s high holiday — a day to celebrate the drug and advocate for its legalization.
For dispensaries, it can also be a high-volume day of sales on discounted products.
But one Massachusetts cannabis company, including its three dispensaries, will be closed for the day.
The leadership of Temescal Wellness said last month that 4/20 would be a paid company day off going forward, in order to allow employees “to celebrate the important holiday themselves.”
“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,” Sian Leininger, Temescal’s director of retail and customer engagement, said in a statement in March. “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.”
Temescal’s dispensaries in Pittsfield, Hudson and Framingham will be closed. So will the company’s production facilities in Worcester and North Adams and its corporate office in Framingham, a company spokesperson confirmed.
Honey
Cannabis products on display at the dispensary Honey in Northampton. (Will Katcher/MassLive).
Whether any other cannabis companies have similarly declared the day off is unclear.
Temescal claims to be the first cannabis company nationally to declare April 20 as a paid company holiday. But with thousands of dispensaries and other cannabis businesses operating in states across the country, it is a difficult achievement to verify.
The Associated Press attributes the somewhat murky origins of “420″ to a group of early 70s California high schoolers, who would meet up at 4:20 p.m. after classes to search for a patch of cannabis plants a friend’s brother was growing in some nearby woods.
“Four-twenty” became their cannabis code word, and the term has since spread widely as a stand-in for marijuana use. The Oxford English Dictionary added “4/20″ to its pages in 2017.
April 20 is now observed as the year’s chief cannabis holiday. There are often festivals, special deals at dispensaries and other celebrations scheduled on that date.
This past weekend — on the Saturday before 4/20 — the Western Massachusetts cannabis festival Extravaganja made a long-awaited return.
The festival was held for the first time since the pandemic, migrating from its enduring roots in Amherst and Northampton north to Greenfield.
Vendors sold a variety of cannabis-themed merchandise, including “MY COUGH IS NOT FROM THE CORONA VIRUS” t-shirts. Some vendors offered free samples of marijuana edibles since selling the drug was not authorized at the festival. There were speakers educating the public about the drug, its use and its history.
“It’s a lot of trying to get rid of the stigmatization of cannabis. You’re not lazy, you’re not a delinquent. You’re just someone who enjoys cannabis,” said Jade Shemligian, a University of Massachusetts junior and member of the school’s Cannabis Education Coalition, which organized the event. “We want to show people it’s just a plant. There’s nothing scary about it.”
Dispensaries across Massachusetts are offering special deals on and around 4/20. Though they will not be open on the day itself, Temescal’s dispensaries have 4/20 deals through the end of April, the company said.
H/T: www.masslive.com
