Beyond the Stereotypes: How Women Are Changing the Meaning of 420

[00:00:53] Tekisha Harvey: Instead of just celebrating getting high or being stoned, which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with, [00:01:00] but celebrating the plant itself and all of the people who have worked to normalize the plant, but also all the, the restorative justice work that’s going on around it and celebrate all the, the people who’ve come before us and who’ve been persecuted for this plant.

[00:01:17] Ellen Scanlon: Welcome to How To Do The Pot, an award-winning podcast helping you feel confident about cannabis. I’m your host, Ellen Scanlon.

[00:01:33] You just heard from Tisha Harvey, the Georgia Base managing partner of Flower Hire, and the co-founder of Canna Curious Magazine. This Sunday, April 20th, marks Weed’s biggest holiday, also known as four 20. As is true with most holidays, people choose to experience it in their own unique way, and four 20 is a counterculture celebration.

[00:01:59] It’s a day to [00:02:00] highlight the inequities in the plant’s history and really everything in between. Today we’re gonna hear all sorts of perspectives, women’s perspectives on what four 20 means to them. First, though, I’m gonna trace the origins of the term four 20 in case you need a good story to share at a party.

[00:02:21] So the story starts in the early 1970s with a group of five high school guys in San Rafael, California, in Marin County, which is about 30 minutes from where I live in San Francisco. These guys were gifted a treasure map by someone’s brother-in-law, or someone’s brother-in-law’s brother-in-law. That person, the gifter, was in the military stationed at Point Reyes in Marin County, which is on federal land.

[00:02:49] He had apparently planted some weed and was growing it in a very remote area, and it was even more remote in the 1970s. He started getting [00:03:00] worried that his superior officers knew what was going on. So the mystery man created this map and handed it to these five high school kids and said, if you can find it, you can keep it.

[00:03:12] Four 20 was their meetup, time to treasure hunt, and it eventually became their code for getting high. These friends also spent a lot of time listening to the Grateful Dead who held their band practice in San Rafael. They like to hang out backstage or at the same parties. And eventually one of them became the manager for Phil Les, a founding member of the Grateful Dead who passed away.

[00:03:37] Last year, the shorthand of four 20 started to spread through Deadheads. And now here we are with an international day to mark weed, not to mention a daily time to smoke. All born from that Northern California hippie culture. And while the term has its roots in that [00:04:00] counterculture weed has spread so much further than that, I’m here to give you permission to celebrate or not celebrate however you want.

[00:04:10] Speaking of celebrating how to Do the Pot has been nominated for a Webby Award. The Webbys are the leading international awards, honoring excellence on the internet. They were founded 29 years ago by Tiffany Slain, a woman from the Bay Area, who I really admire. Today a Webby is one of the Internet’s most respected symbols of success.

[00:04:35] Past winners in the podcast category include influential shows like Serial and the Daily. I am very proud that how To Do The Pot has already won three major media awards, two signal awards, and one Anthem Award. I would love to add a webby to that list. We’re actually up for two Webby awards, one awarded by a panel of [00:05:00] judges and the other called the People’s Voice Award.

[00:05:03] You can help us win the People’s Voice Award by voting. Voting ends on April 17th, so please take a minute and vote today. I’ll add all the details in the show notes, and you can also find the link on our Instagram at Do the Pot. Thank you so much for your support and in today’s show you will hear from women who have made their own four 20 rituals accidentally got their dog a little stoned, partied with friends, have business interest in the day, and see it as a time to reflect on the plant’s.

[00:05:36] Complicated history. Happy four 20.

[00:05:48] Kate OLS is an Ohio based executive Vice President at Acreage Holdings. She has created her own special traditions for four 20 around community and togetherness. [00:06:00]

[00:06:00] Kate Ols: Four 20 has always been very much a community event in my life. It’s one where everybody kind of gets together, and that’s one of the real positives about it.

[00:06:09] It’s intended to be kind of a very social gathering. I know a lot of times in the canvas industry, people think of it as like, oh, a great day for sales, but most people in my circles aren’t actually going to a dispensary on four 20. They’re like. Enjoying the fact that we’re gonna hang out with all of our stoner friends and be bums on four 20 and have a great experience, laugh, listen to some good music, and celebrate the fact that we have a holiday.

[00:06:34] Most of my memories look that way and feel that way. It’s like a tradition, kinda like Thanksgiving.

[00:06:40] Ellen Scanlon: Kate has a lot of fun with friends. On 4 21, memorable year, her dog got unexpectedly involved with the festivities. I.

[00:06:51] Kate Ols: I came home, I was like, why is this dog a blob? This is not normal or right. And it’s on four 20, so like it’s automatically bad.

[00:06:58] I have this blob dog and [00:07:00] I’m obviously like devastated. Someone says like, oh my God, this bull used to be full and now it’s empty, and I’m like. That’s what’s wrong with the dog. I touch his gums like it’s green s slobber coming off, which tells me evidence is there and I just felt so bad. Thank God I didn’t go to the emergency vet ’cause they’ve been like, cool.

[00:07:19] Looks like you had a great day. Look into your precious baby. So everyone made it out. Okay. Never been in that experience again. Definitely make sure that everything is unlocked from here on out and the dog is still a gem. However, he will steal a nug. If there’s like one sitting out somewhere without a doubt, we’ll take it and run.

[00:07:37] So I guess it wasn’t that bad for him,

[00:07:41] Ellen Scanlon: for Taisha Harvey, being open about her love of the plant is a big part of celebrating four 20.

[00:07:48] Tekisha Harvey: For me, four 20 is a day to celebrate the plant, essentially. I think that, you know, a lot of people see it as a smoking holiday, but I see it as also if you’re in the know [00:08:00] about the plant and all, its goodness, it’s a day to kind of publicly celebrate with others about it.

[00:08:08] Ellen Scanlon: Arizona based Dr. Shelley Persad, an author and chiropractor believes it is a sacred day

[00:08:15] Shelly Persad: for me. Four 20 is a sacred, holy day, celebrating and honoring the birth of the higher self of cannabis. And I abide cannabis and sacred ceremony with rituals and an intention to drop into my body, assisting my endocannabinoid system, and restoring me back to a state of balance or divine union.

[00:08:42] Ellen Scanlon: California-based Kaitlyn Krebs started her career in the biotech and life sciences industry before founding cannabis biotech company, Nalu Bio. Her first year working in cannabis, she went to a four 20 event with the legendary cannabis advocate, [00:09:00] Steve DeAngelo, who is often called the father of the legal industry.

[00:09:05] Caitlyn Krebs: So when I joined the cannabinoid and cannabis industry, I attended an event on four 20. Steve DeAngelo was kind of moderating it, and he was just like popping THC, and I think he did a thousand milligrams while we were on camera. And I’m sitting there kind of new to it, thinking, is he gonna be okay? And he was fine.

[00:09:27] He just continued to do interviews to moderate, and so that was actually one of the more memorable four 20 is when I started in this industry. It was kind of the godfather of the cannabis industry, sharing his experience of four 20 and kind of creating that that day and that time.

[00:09:44] Ellen Scanlon: Kristy Palmer is the California based co-founder of cannabis, edible brand, Kiva Confections.

[00:09:50] She is a pioneer in the industry. Kiva was founded in 2010. Kristy shares memories of how big of a hustle four 20 [00:10:00] was in the early days of the California cannabis industry.

[00:10:03] Kristi Palmer: In Kiva’s early days was like all about getting out in front of the consumer in stores with free samples, under any and all circumstances, right?

[00:10:14] It was like, get out there, get in front of people, and one year we kind of had a rule that like if you worked at Kiva, whether you were a packager or a bookkeeper, whatever, you were going to a dispensary and you were gonna introduce the brand to the people and the consumers that came in the door. I mean, it was just a free samples.

[00:10:32] You could do that in the absence of regulation back then. Today, it’s a totally different ballgame. It’s much more, I would say, buttoned up holiday than it ever used to be

[00:10:44] Ellen Scanlon: For many. Four 20 has become a day to think about the injustices of the past and present, and to reflect on how to change the industry going forward.

[00:10:56] Phoebe Depre, the Illinois based founder and CEO of Goddess [00:11:00] Growers, remember celebrating four 20 in high school and the excitement around the holiday. Now that she works in the industry, her perspective has changed.

[00:11:10] Phoebe Depree: I. Now that I’m working in the cannabis industry, it’s more of a reflective day, to be honest, and a chance to look at what we’ve done as a company to date, and then even more, I think a lot about the social equity issues and how.

[00:11:27] There’s an entire industry and a group of people who are benefiting from cannabis. This wonderful plant that was misunderstood, miscategorized for decades. It’s uncomfortable because people are benefiting, but then there’s a whole group of people that were put in jail and their entire lives were ruined.

[00:11:47] So today I think about the work that needs to be done and is being done to right that ship. It is celebratory, I suppose, in a way, because there’s been a lot of [00:12:00] ground that’s been broken. But it does bother me when I think about the people that I. Have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs, the day has changed, and it’s meaning for me.

[00:12:11] So maybe less about a celebration and more about how as an industry moving forward, we can continue to address social equity issues, not only around, uh, social equity, but also responsible use of cannabis and getting the public to have a, a broader understanding of its medicinal properties and, and also the potential risks and safe consumption.

[00:12:35] Ellen Scanlon: There are more than 40,000 people still in prison for cannabis crimes. Disproportionately it’s black and brown people who are currently incarcerated. For a plant that is legal in so many states, Teisha Harvey thinks four 20 could be a better high holiday by reflecting more on this harsh reality.

[00:12:57] Tekisha Harvey: Instead of just celebrating getting high [00:13:00] or being stoned, which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with, but celebrating the plant itself and all of the people who have worked to normalize the plant, but also all the, the restorative justice work that’s going on around it and celebrate all the, the people who’ve come before us and who’ve been persecuted for this plant.

[00:13:19] I think it could be a better celebratory moment, but also a reflective moment.

[00:13:25] Ellen Scanlon: Quasi opa, a professor at the University of Toronto and Hir Ula, a cannabis investor, wrote a great book about this called Waiting to Inhale Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice. Check out episode two 13 to learn more.

[00:13:44] Today quasi gives us a quick history lesson and shares what he thinks every cannabis consumer should know about the war on drugs. I.

[00:13:53] Akwasi Owusu-Bempah: We also need to recognize that our early drug laws came out of attempts to control both [00:14:00] certain racial populations as well as social groups who were seen to be problematic.

[00:14:05] So, you know, our first drug laws really targeted. I. Chinese people and opium use, uh, Mexican people with respect to cannabis and later black people. Uh, and, and the association with jazz, and then also populations, groups, hippies, for example, that were seen as, as being a threat or a danger to mainstream society.

[00:14:23] And so our drug laws were never initially devised and certainly have not been. Promoted and expanded really to protect the public in the way that we think they have. If that was the intention, I think we would’ve taken a very different approach. There are a few things that I, I want every cannabis consumer to know about the war on drugs.

[00:14:40] First of all, that it’s been a hugely failed policy. If the goal was to reduce drug use and the supply of drugs. Uh, and to stop criminal activity around, uh, drugs and drug trafficking, then it’s been a huge failure. You know, if you’re a politician who’s campaigned on a tough on drugs agenda, if you’re a law enforcement or, or justice agency who [00:15:00] has benefited from the money that’s come from fighting a war on drugs, or if you’re a.

[00:15:04] Cartel or other organized crime group who’s benefited from the money being made, then it’s been successful in your eyes. But for, for the most part, it has been an an, an abject failure. We spent billions of dollars waging this war, trillions in fact of dollars waging this war, and our society is no better for it.

[00:15:20] In fact, I think we’re much worse off.

[00:15:28] Ellen Scanlon: Janet Matula is the California based head of business development and compliance for Gelato Kanako. She’s been working in the industry for a long time. On four 20. She thinks it’s important to focus on how far we’ve come.

[00:15:43] Janet Matula: I really didn’t know much about four 20 till I got into the cannabis business, which was what, 12 years ago or so?

[00:15:51] And in my mind, because I am one of the old timers, I would love to see four 20 being more [00:16:00] about education, more about breadth and the depth of. Cannabis of topicals and the whole history and this celebrating where we are today versus where we were under Nixon and Reagan and just saying no and schedule one because it has come so far, particularly women, and there’s so many things to be celebrated besides a date and a time.

[00:16:29] It’s to me another day. I mean, we make a big deal of it around here because we also have a retail, so we’ll be doing a big sort of celebration there. For me personally, it’s just another day, just another time on the clock.

[00:16:43] Ellen Scanlon: Lots of great stories and thank you to everyone who shared them with us. Happy four 20 and I hope you enjoy whatever you choose to do.

[00:16:54] At how to do the pot, we celebrate that legal cannabis is accessible to more and more [00:17:00] people. So four 20 or any other day, cheers to weed. What am I doing this year? On four 20, I’ll be celebrating my son’s birthday. His actual birthday is April 22nd Earth Day, and because of that, it kind of overshadows four 20 for me.

[00:17:20] I love Earth Day and it is still connected to honoring magical plants. If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. We love new listeners and are here to help everyone feel confident about cannabis.

[00:17:39] Thank you for listening to How To Do The Pot. For lots more information and past episodes, visit do the pot.com. Are you one of the thousands of people who love how to do the POTS newsletter? If you’re not getting it, please sign up@dothepot.com. And if you like how to do the pot, please [00:18:00] rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.

[00:18:02] It really helps people find the show. Thank you to writer Joanna Silver and producers Maddie Fair and Nick Petri. I’m Ellen Scanlan and stay tuned for more of how to do the Pot

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