San Francisco celebrates 'Weed Week' to promote marijuana culture

San Francisco will be hosting its first-ever “Weed Week” this year, a celebration aimed at embracing marijuana culture in the city, after the city canceled its annual 4/20 event at Golden Gate Park.

Scheduled to commence on April 13 and extend through April 20, also known as "4/20," an informal holiday for cannabis lovers, the event promises a week-long extravaganza dedicated to all things weed.

“SF Weed Week is like SF Beer Week, only for weed. It features cannabis producers releasing new flowers in 7 licensed lounges and stores over 7 nights,” the organizers of the event wrote, according to KRON4.

The city typically hosts an official 4/20 event at Golden Gate Park, where marijuana enthusiasts gather at "Hippie Hill" in the park to partake in cannabis-related activities on April 20. However, due to a lack of funding and budget cuts, the event was canceled. 

Despite the cancellation of the official event put on by the city each year, San Francisco Mayor London Breed emphasized that the spirit of 4/20 remains alive through the grassroots efforts of the organizers who created Weed Week. 

"The event is canceled, but 420 is an organic event that came together not because the city said so, but because the community makes it happen as long as we do so safely," Breed said. 

“Weed growers are rock stars, and strains are celebrities. I want to give these strain releases the same rock star treatment that album releases get. It’s going to be dope. 4/20 is on in San Francisco," said Weed Week creator David Downs.

Since California legalized recreational cannabis use in 2016, the industry has seen significant growth. Mayor Breed highlighted that the cannabis sector is projected to contribute a substantial $789 million to California's economy between 2024 and 2025, according to KTVU.