It looks like some major cities in California will once again forgo their celebration of 4/20, or April 20, a day when cannabis users enjoy the substance worldwide.
KCBS Insider Phil Matier recently shared more on why San Francisco will opt out of 4/20 celebrations at Golden Gate Park.
Matier shared that the move to cancel previously held celebrations may be an indicator of how the California cannabis industry is doing as a whole.
“Well, it’s basically gone from the buzz to bust, and now it’s boring,” Matier said. “It’s been quite a transformation in the seven years since we legalized recreational marijuana in California. I remember when the 420 celebrations were a big sort of push to get legalized marijuana. We have 20,000 people out there puffing away on Hippie Hill, and now they can’t even get a sponsor or a crowd interested in going there anymore.”
One major issue for recently canceled events is the inability to get sponsorship, which Matier says is a product of the cannabis industry in California seeing “hard times.”
Part of this comes from the prevalence of illegally produced marijuana, which Matier says still makes up around “50% of the weed being sold” in the state.
“The regulations aren’t working, the money’s not coming in, the pot growers are losing money, and the public kind of lost interest in the novelty of smoking up in public,” Matier said.
When it comes to what could potentially help the marijuana industry in the U.S., Matier says that many advocates are complaining about the current tax rate in the state.
“There’s a push going on in Sacramento to try to lower the taxes on marijuana,” he said. “It’s becoming like a regular business that’s saying, ‘Hey, we’re over-regulated and overtaxed.’
Matier says that with regulations, state and local taxes, and illegal growers selling it for less, there is no way that the industry can survive.
Even with this, Matier says the industry is hesitant to go after those who are growing and selling illegally.
“There’s been a real resistance, even within the pot community, to go after the unregulated market. And it’s like a hole in the bucket that just keeps leaking and leaking,” he said. “It’s hurting us because we’re not getting the taxes we wanted. It’s hurting the industry because the number of licensed dealers and growers has dropped carelessly...and now, on top of it all, they’re getting competition from THC or cannabis-injected drinks that are being sold openly on the market as well in many states. So I could say that if it comes to Hippie Hill and 4/20, the next celebration might just actually be more of a funeral.”