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All holidays come with baggage, and 4/20 is no exception.
Maybe there’s no racist uncle or disappointed offspring who wanted an Elsa doll, but celebrating the highest of high holidays still has its complications.
When Oregon voters legalized recreational cannabis in 2015, few of them worried that the state would grow so much weed that dispensaries would struggle to stay in business. But that’s happened not once but twice—and the latest crush of oversupply has bestowed stoners with cheap bud without benefiting the people who produce it.
With prices down and the number of dispensaries located in Portland at over 100, it’s easy to assume that the industry is thriving. But easy access to $1 half-gram house-rolled joints hides a more nuanced reality (for the results of our quest for the city’s cheapest weed, see here).
Anybody who’s opened our paper in the past three weeks has noticed the intense scrutiny we’ve applied to La Mota, a company founded by two Floridians whose tax records and court histories display what happens when an industry is oversupplied and underregulated.
And if state agencies are overwhelmed, pity the poor smoker just trying to choose a dispensary in Portland. How are you supposed to figure out which are just surfing the legalization wave and which are truly worthy of your support?
For this year’s 4/20 Issue, we’ve put together a package of stories that tries to make those challenges (and more) less daunting. Looking for BIPOC-owned businesses to support? We’ll point you in the right direction. Confused about cannabinoids and their side effects? Chill and check out our cannabinoid guide. Plus, we keep you up to date on the most urgent issues facing Oregon’s growers, like the Oregon Health Authority’s controversial new cannabis testing rules.
Being a stoner is about more than lighting up a joint. It’s about lighting up a joint together. We chose to feature a story about Flight Lounge—think of an Elks lodge, but with weed—as a reminder that you can’t sustain the 420 community without, well, community.
This year, we also have a 4/20 advent calendar that, alas, does not contain edibles tucked behind 20 doors. (Forgive us: It wasn’t physically possible in a newspaper.)
When 4/20 started in the 1970s, it’s doubtful its originators imagined the world we live in today. But it’s here and it’s as glorious as it is overwhelming. Bong bless us, every one.
—Bennett Campbell Ferguson, Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
Willamette Week’s 2023 4/20 Guide
More Than Just Bongs and Blintzes, Flight Lounge Makes Safe Space for All
A New Test Required by Oregon for a Common Fungus Could Crush the Pre-Roll and Flower Industries
Can’t Tell CBN From CBG? This Guide to the Most Common Cannabinoids Will Help.
A Guide to BIPOC Businesses and Nonprofits for the Socially Conscious Stoner
In America’s Cheapest Cannabis Market, WW Asks for the Nickel Bags