A Massachusetts cannabis company has declared April 20 — or 4/20, the international high holiday of marijuana enthusiasts — as a paid holiday for employees.
Temescal Wellness, which has three dispensaries open in the state, said in a statement that it wanted to allow its staff “to be able to celebrate the important holiday themselves.”
The number “420″ holds special meaning in the community of cannabis users. Though its origins are murky, when the Oxford English Dictionary added the term to its pages in 2017, it attributed the earliest known use to a group of 70s-era high schoolers in California, who would meet up at 4:20 p.m. after classes to search for an unattended grow patch of cannabis plants.
“Four-twenty” became their cannabis code word, and the term has since spread widely as a stand-in for marijuana use.
April 20 is now observed as a day to celebrate cannabis by those who use it. There are often festivals, special deals at dispensaries and other celebrations scheduled on that date.
“4/20 is a day to show appreciation, love and respect for cannabis and its power to help amplify the health and happiness that people experience in their daily lives,” Sian Leininger, Temescal’s director of retail and customer engagement, said in a statement. “While 4/20 is one of our most profitable days, we hope making it a paid holiday off for our team elevates it as a day for everyone to celebrate cannabis and the community around it.”
Temescal claims to be the first cannabis company nationally to declare April 20 as a paid company holiday. But with thousands of dispensaries and other cannabis businesses operating in states across the country, it is a difficult achievement to verify.
Temescal has medical and recreational dispensaries in Pittsfield, Hudson and Framingham.
Employees there, those at the company’s production facilities in Worcester and North Adams, and those working in its corporate office in Framingham were all granted the new paid holiday.
“For us, it’s a day to celebrate our employees, whose passion, knowledge and true dedication inspires their unparalleled service to our customers and our community all of the other days of the year,” Leininger said.
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