In the mad rush to stock up for the apocalypse, people weren’t just buying toilet paper. They were also buying THC. One memorable sign of the times was the line that extended out the front door of The Reef, a pot shop on Capitol Hill, all the way down East Olive Way to the Crescent.
It turns out, those people were lined up like that because they were afraid that pot shops were going to close. But one of the odder reversals of fortune in an era of odd reversals of fortune is that what used to be considered “a crime” by the state—distributing marijuana—is now considered an “essential business,” more important than bars and restaurants.
Who made that decision, and what was the thinking behind it? That is one of the questions answered in The Stranger‘s spring 2020 Green Guide. Also answered: What are doctors telling patients about smoking weed in light of COVID-19 being a respiratory illness? How can the byproducts of extracting cannabis oil can be used to make hand sanitzer? And why is there still a line outside The Reef?
Rounding out the package of stories, we have an interview with a pot grower about the significance of the new social equity law just passed by the state legislature that will give 34 people of color retail licenses to sell cannabis in this state—licenses worth about $500,000 each.
And we have an interview with the people behind The Stranger‘s stoner film festival SPLIFF about how to livestream this year’s festival, and what to expect from the dizzying array of art in it. They also have some advice for filmmakers who didn’t make it into this festival that could help them with their entries for next year.
We’ve also rounded up every 4/20-specific dispensary deal, food & drink special, and weed-centric event we could find (including ones that we just think would be fun to do while stoned) leading up to the most fun Monday of the year.
A visual table of contents of this Green Guide is below.
