Pubdate: Mon, 21 Apr 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Jill Tucker
Page: A1
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

FESTIVITIES A HIT WITH THE MELLOW MULTITUDES

The 21-year-old took a long drag off a cigar-sized joint and exhaled, 
a white cloud of smoke floating around his head.

Sunday marked his second year attending 4/20, an informal 
marijuana-focused festival of thousands on Hippie Hill in Golden Gate 
Park, and Nathan - "just Nathan" - had traveled from Salinas to be 
part of the communal partaking of cannabis.

"Everyone is so nice," he said, taking another drag, adding that it 
was fortuitously Easter, albeit an untraditional acknowledgment of 
it. "Everyone is coming together to celebrate something." While the 
vibe in the park was for the most part mellow, city and park 
officials were keeping a wary eye on the event.

They didn't care about the cannabis. They cared about the clogged 
streets, illegally parked cars and mounds of trash.

Last year, the crowds left 10,000 pounds of garbage in their wake and 
created at-a-stand-still traffic jams as the celebrants flooded the 
Haight Ashbury neighborhood.

Supervisor London Breed said she didn't want to be a "buzzkill." But 
Breed, whose district includes the Haight and the park area, didn't 
want a repeat of last year's chaos and two-day cleanup.

She noted that smoking anything in any city park is illegal, but San 
Francisco has a tradition of turning a blind eye to infractions for 
official or unofficial events.

City officials said they would be cracking down on several 
violations, including structures or canopies, amplified sound, 
alcoholic beverages, tree climbing, fires, and peddling or vending 
without a permit.

Lenient attitude

Yet Hippie Hill and Sharon Meadow below it were covered in canopies, 
with speakers blaring music, bottles and cans of beer everywhere, an 
occasional tree climber, several barbecues, and dozens if not 
hundreds of people selling a range of regular and "medicinal" items.

"Lollipops (laced with cannabis), two for $5," one entrepreneurial 
woman yelled. "Joints for $2."

"Chili cheese Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos," yelled a man selling the 
straight snacks. "I got it right here. Fritos. Cheetos. Boom!"

So many people were selling pot cookies, pot brownies, pot cupcakes 
and other bacchanalian treats that sales were pretty slow, many of 
the impromptu vendors said.

"I'm pretty baked, so it's slow going," one sucker-selling woman said.

Yet there was no visible police presence in the meadow or on the hill.

Elias Pizano, 29, drove from Modesto and arrived at the meadow at 
6:30 a.m., a carsized beach ball in tow.

"It's like a celebration," he said. "Everybody is happy."

No place to go

That was arguably an overstatement. Among those not happy: people who 
needed a potty break in the midst of the pot smoking.

Because it was a non-sanctioned event, there weren't any portable 
bathrooms on hand, just a few stalls in permanent park bathrooms and 
a plethora of trees and bushes to accommodate the 10,000 or so revelers.

Similar events were taking place in other cities across the state and 
country, each hitting its peak at 4:20 p.m. with a shared communal high.

Yet the celebration comes as San Francisco and the state continue to 
grapple with the issue of relaxed laws on marijuana. In San Francisco 
earlier this month, the City Planning Commission approved 
restrictions to limit the growth of cannabis dispensaries in the 
Ocean Avenue neighborhood.

In San Francisco, officials were more focused Sunday on keeping the 
temporary cardboard trash cans from overflowing and traffic moving 
around neighboring streets.

Barriers prevented cars from entering the park and from accessing 
Haight Street.

Trash collectors

California voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. But Gov. 
Jerry Brown said recently he is watching closely to see how Colorado 
and Washington handle new laws that regulate the growth and sale of 
taxed recreational marijuana at state-licensed stores.

And a handful of park workers on overtime pay mingled with the crowd, 
picking up trash.

As 4:20 p.m. approached, however, trash started to dot the hillside 
and meadow, despite the numerous recycling and landfill boxes spaced 
about 30 feet apart.

Along the pathway at the bottom of Hippie Hill, where revelers were 
shoulder to shoulder, vendors Alicia, 30, and Patrick, 34 - no last 
names given - held up sizable $5 peanut-butter chocolatechip cookies, 
each containing an estimated half-gram of marijuana. They had few takers.

"We're not coming back next year," said Patrick, adding they had come 
from Stockton. "Too much of a hassle."

Behind them was a cooler filled with most of the 150 individually 
vacuum-packed cookies they had made.

"We're gonna end up eating and passing out whatever's left," Patrick 
said with a shrug.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom