Cannabis Websites Crash on Biggest 4/20 Day
Cannabis suppliers in the US and Canada struggled to keep up with demand on Saturday, the biggest ever 4/20 Day.
The annual celebration of marijuana held on 20 April is quickly becoming the industry’s own Black Friday event, as several suppliers reported difficulties fulfilling orders.
Some delivery website and apps such as Eaze, the US’s biggest legal cannabis delivery service, crashed under the weight of the weekend demand after it offered free deliveries in California, and a 20 percent discount on cannabis-related products in other states.
“The site is temporarily down. We're working on it and it should be back up shortly,” The company stated on Twitter. “If you already placed an order it's on its way. Happy 4:20!”
Speaking to the Guardian, one Eaze spokesperson said that, “the volume was unprecedented - cannabis has definitely gone mainstream. The lines to dispensaries across California were out the door.”
Other cannabis delivery companies such as Nugg and Chill were also reported to have experienced delays and difficulties throughout the celebratory day.
In Canada and the 10 US states that have legalized recreational use, cannabis shortages are not uncommon. But it still seems that many companies were taken by surprise with the high volume of customers enjoying the event.
It is “definitely the Black Friday of the industry,” Armen Yemenidjian, CEO of Essence Cannabis Dispensaries, told the Las Vegas Sun. “It also pays homage to the culture that has moved the cannabis industry forward for the past couple of decades. 420 has been adopted by the mainstream and used as a symbol for cannabis.”
This mainstream adoption was highlighted by brands like Pizza Hut and Hershey’s, which both offered price reductions on products to $4.20. But beyond increasing the normalization of cannabis, other commercial companies used the opportunity to raise awareness about the criminal justice reform needed for those persecuted with marijuana-related charges.
“If you love pot and you’re white, everything is totally awesome these days. In 2017, 81% of cannabis executives were white,” the company stated on its website.
“Meanwhile, even in states where pot is legal, and even though Black people and white people use pot at similar rates, Black people are still arrested way more often than whites. We love 4/20 and we love legalization, but that’s not OK.”
The political statement from the ice cream company was joined by many other messages of reform and protest across the world.
Organized weed “sit-ins” took place in Denver, San Francisco, Washington DC, New York, and in Hyde Park in central London. As the clocks struck 4.20pm in each time zone, attendees lit cannabis joints and called on their government to fully decriminalize the drug.
The reasons behind the number 420 and its association with cannabis are still debated. One Facebook event for Hyde Park’s 420 explains the popular view that “back in 1971, five students at San Rafael High School in California would meet at 4.20pm – right after doing their after-school sports – by the school’s statue of Louis Pasteur to toke up.”
