Celebrating the famous 4/20 in Weed, California

WEED, Calif. (KTVL) — Pot enthusiasts from Northern California and Southern Oregon gathered in Weed, California, on Wednesday to celebrate April 20, more commonly known as simply "4/20."

“This is a day that most smokers look forward to, especially since we’ve gotten into a legal market,” CJ Rodriguez, team player at Cypress Group explained. “It typically is seen as our Black Friday so to speak.”

Elizabeth Tabor, owner of La Florista Cannabis, said 4/20 always brings an uptick in sales and she hopes the event will convince people to buy from dispensaries rather than black market products.

“Nothing can ever come to my facility for the consumer if it hasn’t gone through the California Metric System, testing system,” said Tabor. “Those licensed are all verified through the regulatory system.”

Smallercannabisbusinesses face competition from black market operations, all the while payingincreasing state taxes.

The state of California increased its cannabis cultivation tax by 8.6% in 2022. Other taxes include a7.5% California sales tax, the state’s 15% cannabis excise tax and the 3% tax on weed in the city of Weed.

“We’ve come to find that the way that it’s been regulated and taxed, it’s kind of taxing us out of that regulated market,” Tabor said.

Tabor said she believes the increase in taxes drives people to unregulated and unsafe black market products.

The event offered a safe space for vendors to come and sell their cannabis products, from creams, drinks and even the flower itself.

Many vendors that attended are locals and licensed through Mt. Shasta.

“We don’t actually deal with any other product that isn’t something that we grew so we know that we’re following the rules and we are compliant so all of our products by virtue are also compliant,” said Rodriguez.

Both Tabor and Rodriguez expressed the need to support local cannabis companies like their own to prevent people from buying unsafe products and keep the legal industry alive.

Tabor has been planning this event for over two months and there was a large turnout. Rodriguez said he had over 300 conversations within the first couple of hours.

La Florista’s loyal customer base showed up and drew in more people with the special 4/20 deals on their safe and regulated products.

“I'd rather come here where I know where they get it, where I know where their plantings are and everything,” said Jasmond Castillo, a La Florista customer.

Castillo added that she does not mind the increased taxes because she knows the products that she buys are safe.