Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2016
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Authors: Evan Sernoffsky and Kale Williams

FIRED-UP FREE-FOR-ALL IN GOLDEN GATE PARK

A small crowd of redeyed stoners broke off from the sea of thousands 
Wednesday to follow a scruffy man pulling a cart of mature marijuana 
plants through Sharon Meadow in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Fabio, as the plant man preferred to be called, and his six strains 
of pot shrubs were among the scores of crowd-pleasing curiosities for 
the estimated 10,000-plus throng of revelers celebrating at what has 
become the global epicenter of the 4/20 marijuana holiday.

"Thank you for smoking weed all your life!" he said to his newly 
formed, gawking entourage, while paying homage to all the potheads 
who laid the groundwork for the celebration. "And thank you to all 
the OGs, so I could just come out here and flaunt it."

If a ballot measure before California voters passes in November, the 
state will join four others that have already legalized and regulated 
recreational marijuana use. Such a move would make Wednesday's 4/20 
celebration the last smokeout in Golden Gate Park in which weed is 
not fully legal.

But even with legalization, chances that Golden Gate Park could ever 
be a legitimate venue for the national holiday are slim. Smoking has 
been banned in all San Francisco parks for more than a decade.

As in previous years, the annual unsanctioned pot party attracted 
people from all over the Bay Area, California and the world. While 
authorities maintained a lax attitude to many of the illegal 
activities during the free-for-all, city officials had put measures 
in place to mitigate troubling behavior seen at previous gatherings, 
including an assault on a park ranger last year.

Without anyone to hold accountable for the helter-skelter gathering, 
the city will pony up nearly $100,000 for the extra police, 
firefighters, juvenile probation officers and Muni resources used to 
manage the side-effects that once again tested neighbors' tolerance.

City residents and drivers, many of whom want nothing to do with the 
event, toughed out an afternoon of traffic headaches as cooler- and 
tent-toting throngs began clogging streets.

"I hate what's happening to San Francisco," a frustrated Samantha 
Grier said while stuck in traffic on Fell Street along the Panhandle. 
"It's bumper-to-bumper."

Inside the park, thousands set up on Hippie Hill while dozens of 
vendors - selling beer, Tequila, Jell-O shots and a host of infused 
edibles - lined the path that winds through Sharon Meadow.

"Edibles! Margaritas! Hot Dogs! Cold Beer!" one shirtless man shouted 
while standing on a cooler, surrounded by scores of other unlicensed 
vendors selling food, booze, glass pipes and T-shirts.

Diamond, a 24-yearold Stockton resident who didn't use a last name, 
was selling treats made of with Fruity Pebbles and Froot Loops, among 
other substances, though he said his wasn't a money-making endeavor.

"I'm not here to make a profit, I'm here to feed the need," he said, 
noting that his belief in karma prevented him from exploiting the 
hungry stoners around him. "What goes around comes around."

The aptly named Joe Green, 24, of San Francisco rode a tall bike 
painted in green, red and yellow Rastafarian colors through the 
meadow carrying an equally tall joint, filled with a quarter-ounce of 
weed he picked up in the park earlier in the day for $50, a deal he 
called the "dirtcheap holiday special." He intended to spark the 
monstrous doobie right at 4:20 p.m. to "make sure I'm part of the 
cloud," he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom