Marijuana users celebrate the plant’s unofficial 4/20 holiday
Fans of marijuana have long marked April 20 as a day to roll weed or munch on pot-laced brownies, and call for increased legal access to it. This year’s celebrations throughout the U.S. come amid loosening of marijuana restrictions and increasing tolerance for the plant’s use from Alaska to Massachusetts.
- A woman waves a flag with a marijuana leaf on it next to a group gathered to celebrate National Marijuana Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on April 20, 2016. Canada will take steps next year to legalize marijuana, Health Minister Jane Philpott announced. Philpott offered several reasons for ending the ban on pot, including the view that laws in Canada and abroad criminalizing marijuana use have been both overly-harsh and ineffective. (Chris Roussakis/AFP/Getty Images)
- A man look on as people gather to celebrate National Marijuana Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on April 20, 2016. Canada will take steps next year to legalize marijuana, Health Minister Jane Philpott announced. Philpott offered several reasons for ending the ban on pot, including the view that laws in Canada and abroad criminalizing marijuana use have been both overly-harsh and ineffective. (Chris Roussakis/AFP/Getty Images)
- A vendor sells pot as thousands of people gather at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A man smokes a bong as thousands of people gather at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A 4/20 participant sports a painted face as he smokes marijuana at 4:20pm as thousands of people gathered four 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- Thousands of people gather at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A woman walks on stilts through a large crowd as thousands of people gather at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A man sits on a beach as he smokes a bong as thousands of people gather at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A man smokes marijuana as thousands of people gathered at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A vendor sells Jell-o pot shots as thousands of people gathered at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- 4/20 staff hand out free joints as thousands of people gathered at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A man smokes shatter from a bong as thousands of people gather at 4/20 celebrations on April 20, 2016 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, Canada. The Vancouver 4/20 event is the largest free protest festival in the city, with day-long music, public speakers and the world’s only open-air public cannabis farmer’s market where people sell all kinds of cannabis and extracts while educating the crowd about medical marijuana, political involvement and activism. Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says Canada will roll out the legislation in the spring of 2017 to begin the process of legalizing and regulating marijuana. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
- A woman smokes marijuana during the annual 4/20 marijuana gathering at Civic Center Park in downtown Denver, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. Public consumption remains illegal under the state’s recreational pot law, which was passed in 2012. Fans of the drug have long marked April 20 as a day to enjoy pot especially at 4:20 p.m. and to call for increased legal access to it. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
- Natalie Rice, left, and Lee Rice, right, are married by Locq Fortune beneath a canopy of faux marijuana plants during a ceremony at the Cannabis Chapel, Wednesday, April 20, 2016, in Las Vegas. Natalie and Lee Rice were the first couple to marry at the marijuana themed wedding chapel, which opened Wednesday. (AP Photo/John Locher)
- Gannon Castner, right, helps a customer at the Harvest Medical Marijuana Dispensary in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. In what may be the last year pot is illegal in California, thousands of people are expected to converge on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Wednesday for the annual 4/20 marijuana holiday. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
- A man smokes a marijuana joint at a party celebrating weed Wednesday, April 20, 2016, in Seattle. Fans of the drug have long marked April 20 as a day to roll weed or munch on pot-laced brownies, and call for increased legal access to it. This year’s celebrations throughout the U.S. come amid loosening of marijuana restrictions and increasing tolerance for the plant’s use from Alaska to Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
- Drew Wyman talks with friends while they visited Farrand Field to see what was going on for 4/20 on the University of Colorado Boulder campus Wednesday, April 20, 2016, in Boulder, Colo. Public consumption remains illegal under the state’s recreational pot law, which was passed in 2012. Fans of the drug have long marked April 20 as a day to enjoy pot especially at 4:20 p.m. and to call for increased legal access to it. (Autumn Parry/Daily Camera via AP)
- People smoke marijuana during the “420 Toronto” rally in Toronto on Wednesday April 20, 2016. Cannabis possession is illegal in most countries under a 1925 treaty called the International Opium Convention. But just like the U.S., some nations either flout the treaty or don’t enforce it. Legalization supporters consider pot possession either legal or tolerated in Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay, Germany and the Netherlands. (Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press via AP)
- A woman exhales while smoking marijuana during the annual 420 marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. Cannabis possession is illegal in most countries under a 1925 treaty called the International Opium Convention. But just like the U.S., some nations either flout the treaty or don’t enforce it. Legalization supporters consider pot possession either legal or tolerated in Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay, Germany and the Netherlands. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
- People in business attire left the State Capitol as the protest took place at a church across the street on April 20, 2016 in St. Paul, Minn. A rally held at the State Capitol and also at a nearby church, Minnesota Stands Together Against Cannabis Prohibition, involved several of Minnesota’s pro-cannabis groups who marched and rallied to end cannabis prohibition in Minnesota. (Jim Gerz/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)
- Andy Schuler came dressed up for a rally called Minnesota Stands Together Against Cannabis Prohibition on April 20, 2016 in St. Paul, Minn. (Jim Gerz/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)