Popular lore ties the origin of the unofficial stoner holiday of 4/20—celebrated on April 20—to a group of Californian high schoolers in the 1970s. But Coloradans have embraced the high holiday wholeheartedly and turned it into something unique and endemic to the state. Marijuana enthusiasts will be celebrating this Saturday, whether at the Mile High 420 Festival in Denver, a 420-themed carnival or hanging out with friends and smoking. As for what exactly cannabis culture is though, the answer is constantly evolving.
“I think there’s a couple of different narratives, right?” said Karla Rodriguez, vice president of human resources and corporate social responsibility at Boulder-based Wana Brands. “There’s the mainstream narrative of what stoner culture looks like, which I think is the very stereotypical look at what it means to be a stoner. Whereas I think the other narrative you see is even within the industry itself, which is that I think a lot of companies praise or view 4/20 as a holiday built around capitalism.”
Wana Brands, founded in 2010, is one of the top edible brands in the cannabis industry, producing millions of gummies annually. Just this week, it was announced that former Chief Marketing Officer Joe Hodas will succeed outgoing CEO and co-founder Nancy Whiteman. Amid the transition, the company is continuing its work to change the narrative around 4/20.
“I think that a lot of folks have an idea in their mind of that lazy, not really wanting to be active in society person, where it could not be further from the truth,” Rodriguez said. “I also would be remiss to not point out that I think a lot of those ideas are embedded in racism too, with the typical depictions of cannabis being associated with folks impacted by the war on drugs.”
In the U.S., Black Americans are six times more likely to be arrested for drug charges than white Americans, despite using drugs at similar rates. Additionally, Black and Latino individuals make up 46.9% of arrests for drug charges despite making up only 31.5% of the U.S. population. Although states are legalizing the consumption of cannabis in all forms and are retroactively pardoning people convicted of marijuana charges in some cases, there is still a lasting stigma.
“We still feel that oftentimes we talk about it like it’s in the past, right, but there are still folks incarcerated right now for minor cannabis offenses,” Rodriguez said. “And so it is a duty that is very much interwoven into all that we do in terms of the responsibility of folks within the cannabis industry. And it’s always front of mind for us.”
Part of that duty is Wana’s charity efforts. In 2021, Wana Brands’ then-CEO Whiteman established the $50 million Wana Brands Foundation which funds various charities. As of April 2024, the foundation has given over $4.2 million—a symbolic milestone. Over 150 organizations have received gifts, including several local nonprofits working to end hunger in their communities and those focused on social justice including Last Prisoner Project and Expunge Colorado.
In 2023, the foundation gifted $50,000 to Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, or SPAN, a Boulder-based organization that supports people affected by interpersonal violence. Kristina Quanbeck, events and marketing coordinator for SPAN, said the nonprofit helps those affected in every step of their recovery process.
“We have a lot of programs because we want to provide holistic support because we know that shelter for six weeks is not enough, that it is really a journey towards healing and independence,” Quanbeck said.
SPAN is one of many Colorado organizations the Wana Brands Foundation has contributed to. The two organizations have long partnered, allowing SPAN to use the foundation’s funding for their emergency shelter, crisis line, legal advocacy, counseling and a violence prevention education program. In the past year, over 10,000 individuals used the crisis and information line, and 230 adults and 146 children used the shelter.
“[Wana is] very active in wanting to know what’s going on with us and wanting to tour our shelter,” Quanbeck said. “And just, you know, you don’t see that from everyone. Some people just want to give you money and not really know more, but that’s not Wana. They want to know what we’re up to and what our programs look like. So we really appreciate that.”
This type of partnership with local charities is all a part of Wana’s bigger effort to expand the narrative around stoner culture and 4/20. Other charities they contribute to include Planned Parenthood, One Colorado and the Cannabis Impact Fund. Contributing to these charities both raise awareness of the kinds of systemic injustices that created the stigma around cannabis and allows for larger-scale change.
“I think Coloradans are very passionate, very tenacious, and very caring, and very, very forward thinking on the whole. And I think that that spirit is absolutely embedded into the cannabis industry,” Rodriguez said.
How do you celebrate 4/20? Let us know in the comments!
