Search Results: 4-20 (63)

All photos by Jack Rikess

By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent
President Obama’s fund raising drive continued in San Francisco on April 20 with a financial pow-wow at the St. Regis Hotel downtown. The President was met by some 75 medical marijuana protesters who had arrived at 7 a.m. at 3rd and Mission. The protesters were carrying homemade signs and chanting that the President has turned his back on the medical marijuana community.
“We’re here because Obama hasn’t provided safe access for patients that need their medicine. Raids are continuing on dispensaries,” David Goldman of Americans for Safe Access explained over his coffee cup.
“The IRS is putting pressure on the banks that do business with anyone in the Medical Marijuana community,” Goldman told Toke of the Town. “The IRS is also disallowing expenses to be used as deductions. No sane business can operate without allowing deductions.”

All photos: Jack Rikess
There’s nothing like Golden Gate Park’s Hippie Hill at 4:20 on 4-20.

By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

It starts on the downbeat about an hour before noon.
Five cats in assorted guises from assorted backgrounds bang on congas, snares, and on upside-down five-gallon buckets, pounding out an Afro-beats while the first couple hundred of celebrators mosey their way into Golden Gate Park, and to establish themselves at party central headquarters, Hippie Hill.
It will be another five hours or so before the land and the world as we know it will bend in time. The reality that we call Marijuana for some, will change their conscientiousness and for others just take their change. For now, everything seems copacetic, tranquil, and even sedate with just of a hint of backbeat in the air.
Since early morning, folks of all creeds, colors, genders and baseball affiliations, whether Giants or A’s, have been streaming in to what should be the biggest pot party this side of Seattle. Soon there will be nothing but grins, smiles and a lot of nodding.
But for now, there are some 500 people who are animated; chatting gaily laying down blankets and lugging coolers as more and more stoners appears every minute, getting ready for…something.

Photo: Suicide Girls
“They handed Franco the bag of weed. They gave me the lighter.” ~ From Seth Rogan’s Suicide Girls interview

In celebration of the pot smoker’s holiday, 4-20 (you know, bro: the day when even amateurs get high), my friends over at Suicide Girls have rolled up a fattie and shared five of their “fave mellow interview moments.”

Yes, I’ll be upfront and admit it’s a thrill for me to be on a list with Tommy Chong, Danny Leiner (director of Dude, Where’s My Car? and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle), Seth Rogan (star of Pineapple Express) and Rob Corddry (of Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay).

Photo: GoldenGatePark.com
San Francisco’s 4-20 celebration typically culminates in Golden Gate Park at Hippie Hill. But this year President Obama’s gonna be in town…

​By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

“They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy. She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me. I can’t help it if I’m lucky.” ~ Bob Dylan

I never planned on seeing the Beatles. It wasn’t my fault they didn’t sell out when they played St. Paul, Minnesota in 1965 and literally had to give away seats.
I’m sure if my Dad had to pay for tickets, my babysitter, a neighbor who had a driver’s license and one of his pals, would never have made it to Met Stadium that summer’s night to see one of the crowning events of my life.
The same could be said for Burning Man. I was just going to a bonfire. I never plan on being a part of something.

Photo: Sole Collector
Dude, it had to happen: Cheech & Chong-inspired footwear.

​​A new shoe from sports footwear manufacturer Nike salutes the world’s two most famous stoners — comedy duo Cheech & Chong. The legendary pair have released albums and movies since the 1970s based on the marijuana culture.

The Cheech and Chong Dunk Hi has heels designed as a tribute to the signature red bandanna headwear worn in the movie Up In Smoke by Thomas Chong, reports Brandon Richard at Sole Collector.
Accompanying each pair of shoes will be two sets of interchangeable black and — you guessed it — green laces.

The FlyHi 420 Festival, part of the annual celebration of the unofficial 4/20 holiday at Denver’s Civic Center Park every April 20, has been canceled over coronavirus concerns.

Shortly after Mayor Michael Hancock banned all on-site service at Denver bars and restaurants as of March 17, and days after Governor Jared Polis temporarily banned any public gatherings of over 250 people, 420 fest organizers announced that the festival and free concert set for Monday, April 20, at Civic Center would be canceled.

It’s been six years since Colorado native Michael Bowman pulled off a monumental coup for hemp on the Fourth of July. With the help of Jared Polis — a Colorado congressman at the time — Bowman briefly raised a Denver-made American flag above the United States Capitol Building on July 4, 2013.

That flag was made from hemp fibers, which were federally illegal at the time. Six years later, hemp is now federally legal thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, and Bowman has co-founded his own publicly held hemp venture.

Despite the 4/20 holiday on April 20, Colorado dispensary sales dropped in April from March, according to new data from the state Department of Revenue.

While 4/20 is known for dispensary discounts reminiscent of those on Black Friday and lines of shoppers attracted by those deals, April’s monthly tally of $135.9 million in marijuana sales represented a 5.5 percent drop from the $142.4 million collected in March. Does that mean 4/20’s reputation is all smoke?

The fight between the International Church of Cannabis and the City of Denver may finally be over, but which side really won? Over two months after one of the church’s co-founders, Steve Berke, was found guilty of public pot consumption violations for his role in a 2017 4/20 party, another church co-founder was found not guilty of the same charges.

Lee Molloy — who, along with co-founders Berke and Briley Hale, was charged with allowing public pot consumption and violating the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act during the church’s inaugural 4/20 party in 2017 — was found not guilty by Denver County Judge Johnny Barajas on Friday, April 19.

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