Exploitation, corporatization, competition: How legalizing weed killed 420

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, April 20. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• The weed industry is rife with worker exploitation, abuse, conflicts of interest and social inequality. Does that ruin the holiday?
• USC canceled pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s graduation speech.
• Where to eat and drink near Dodger Stadium before or after a game.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

How legalizing weed killed 420

When a clock or a calendar hits 420, a stoner gains a smile.

The numbers, pronounced “four-twenty,” are a code for anyone who wants to partake in an herbal remedy, whether it be smoking a joint, hitting a bong, sparking up a blunt or eating an edible.

A group of friends from San Rafael High School claim to have coined the term in 1971.

What began as a time to meet up and smoke turned into a code to communicate without their teachers overhearing. After hanging out with the Grateful Dead and the Dead Head community, the group’s phrase caught on.

Since then, April 20 has become an annual celebration that comes in many forms: a festival, a party or a session with the homies in an empty parking lot.

In the eight years since marijuana was legalized in California for recreational use, 420 has been like a weed Black Friday.

Text and email promotions flood inboxes with deals on grams, eighths, edibles and vapes for the industry’s biggest retail day of the year.

But it has also become a reminder: California’s weed industry is rife with issues from the top to bottom.

Worker exploitation has become rampant in the industry

Nearly 600 drivers and depot staff for Eaze, a California cannabis delivery company, threatened a strike ahead of April 20, my colleague Suhauna Hussain reported. Three days before 420, Eaze said they reached a settlement to avert a work stoppage across California.

Other parts of the industry have been plagued, too.

• Workers who harvest weed have been exploited
• Communities harmed by criminalization didn’t get what they needed
• Researchers faced accusations of conflicts of interest
• Corruption and questionable conduct rocked local governments across California

L.A. Times investigations led to California regulators assembling a team to pursue labor exploitation in the state’s weed industry.

Corporatization has changed the holiday

San Francisco canceled its annual 420 fest, my colleague Andrew Campa reported, but not too many seemed sad to hear it. William Dolan, CEO of San Francisco-based Hyrba Marketplace dispensary, told Campa the event held at Hippie Hill had become “corporatized and over-regulated.”

“420 in GG Park has a long, storied history that dates back for decades before the fences, ID checks, and litany of restrictions that came along with a city-sponsored and corporate-backed event,” Dolan said via an email statement.

Yesterday, my colleague Salvador Hernandez reported, “a self-described psychedelic church says it will step in to help support the thousands of people expected to still make the ‘religious pilgrimage.’”

Church of Ambrosia Pastor Dave Hodges told Hernandez that he sees this as a “religious event.”

Competition has made it hard for dispensaries to succeed, even the big ones

MedMen described themselves as an Apple store for weed and attempted to create an image of the new-age stoner that bucked the old stereotype of lazy potheads.

Then came competition and copy cats that took aim at MedMen’s clientele.

“Once valued at over a billion and a half dollars, MedMen has since seen its stock plummet to zero,” my colleague Marisa Gerber reported. “Amid a flurry of lawsuits over alleged mismanagement and failure to pay its bills, the company’s chief executive and board chairman stepped down in January. And in recent weeks, MedMen has closed almost all of its 13 California locations.”

We can still have fun!

While none of these stories should factor into one’s decision to spark up on a Saturday that happens to fall on April 20, it’s clear that legalization has not led to weed utopia.

But I am not a complete buzzkill. 420 began as a camaraderie-building practice whether those San Rafael teenagers knew it or not, and from there it blossomed into a community before an industry was even a thought.

I’ll be home today watching “The Big Lebowski.” If you want to be, too, here are some guides to help.

• Looking to light up this 4/20? Weed entrepreneur Susie Plascencia recommends these 5 Latino-owned dispensaries
• Why doesn’t L.A. have any weed lounges? And other burning weed questions answered
• How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Cheech Marin
• Nervous about going to an L.A. weed shop? This beginner’s guide will help
• 8 wacky ways to get high without smoking
• Answers to common weed questions from budtenders

The week’s biggest stories

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Disneyland expansion

• Disneyland’s $1.9-billion expansion project is the latest mega investment in the Anaheim resort.
• Huge Disneyland expansion to add new rides, restaurants and hotels wins OK.

USC valedictorian

• Citing safety concerns, USC cancels pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s graduation speech.
• USC valedictorian’s grad speech is canceled: ‘The university has betrayed me.’
• Did USC set a ‘very bad precedent’ by canceling valedictorian speech over safety threats?
• USC students protest the ‘silencing’ of valedictorian with cancellation of speech.
• ‘Let her speak!’ USC campus reels after valedictorian’s speech is canceled.
• USC calls off commencement appearances in wake of controversy over valedictorian speech.

Coachella

• Coachella is bigger than ever. Where to find the best food spots for Weekend 2.
• The 15 best things we saw at Coachella 2024 Weekend 1.
• L.A. artist Blxst on his Coachella debut and where he’s eating Weekend 2.

California housing crisis

• The California housing crisis is so bad once-modest towns have become ‘million-dollar cities.’
• All-cash offers and wealthy buyers push Southern California home prices to a record.
• California is building fewer homes. The state could get even more expensive.
• California exodus of home insurance companies continues.

This week in sports

• The Dodgers bullpen was supposed to be a strength. Why has it struggled early on?
• How LeBron James and the Lakers are planning to end Denver’s dominance against them.
• ‘I think we owe them.’ Kings eager to flip the script on Oilers in NHL playoffs.
• Clippers still unsure if Kawhi Leonard will play Game 1.

More big stories

• A celebrated L.A. astrology influencer’s stunning fall from ‘healer’ to solar eclipse killer.
• Tesla recalls nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks due to faulty accelerator pedal.
• Women at a California prison dubbed the ‘rape club’ now worry where they’ll be transferred.
• ‘Miracle’ weight-loss drugs could have reduced health disparities. Instead they got worse.
• Caitlin Clark is worth millions. Why will she only make $76,535 in base salary as a WNBA rookie?

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

(Andrew Kelly / For The Times)

This trans author toured red-state libraries. What she found might surprise you. Diana Goetsch spent months visiting red-state libraries to do presentations on the freedom to read. Would she be recognized, or clocked as transgender?

More great reads

• ‘It’s the best job ever’: ‘Family Guy’ cast reflects on 25 years of irreverent humor.
• Opera gets slapped with the ‘elitist’ label. L.A. proves just how wrong that is.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

A flight of cider, left to right: Manzana Rustica, Pippin the Elder, Guavacita and Pom-Pomme at Benny Boy Brewing in Lincoln Heights.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• ⚾ Where to eat and drink near Dodger Stadium before or after a game.
• ⛔ Topanga Canyon could remain closed into the fall after massive landslide.
• 🌮 🦪 Benny Blanco takes us on a ‘bang bang’ for his favorite Thai food, tacos and oysters.

Staying in

• 🎬 ‘The Sympathizer’ depicts war from a Vietnamese point of view, but how does the community see it?
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for a light Chilaquiles Rojos With Vallarta-Style Shrimp Salad.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

How well did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz.

(Times staff and wire photos)

Rattlesnakes are being unusually aggressive on what California island? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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