Cannabis consumers’ favorite day of the year has arrived. The ‘holiday’ came about in a sort of myth. According to a High Times former editor, the term came about when a group of high school students in the ‘70s used it as code to smoke marijuana every day at 4:20pm. While the exact origins of ‘420’ are a bit of a legend, it became code for smoking marijuana across pop culture and April 20 quickly became a day to celebrate and consume all things cannabis.
Weed consumption has been widely stigmatized within Black and Latino communities, largely due to the disproportionate arrests and imprisonment of both communities for weed. Groups like the National Hispanic Cannabis Council are hoping to change that by opening up opportunities for Latinos to own their own dispensaries and cannabis businesses.
Celebrate 420 by visiting one of the Latino owned dispensaries below. Not near one of them? Check out Latino owned brands Pure Beauty and Mirayo by Santana (Carlos Santana owns a weed brand!) to see if they are sold in a dispensary near you.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles
MUZEUM
Visit: https://muzeumla.com/
Muzuem, located in the San Fernando Valley, is formally known as The Green Earth Farmacie, is a recreational and medical cannabis collective in Southern California. Owned by Jimmy Castro.
Dr. Greenthumb
Visit: https://weedmaps.com/dispensaries/dr-greenthumb-dtla
Dr. Greenthumb is a franchise of medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries, co-founded by B-Real of the hip-hop group, Cypress Hill. The shops carry a variety of cannabis products, from flowers to edibles and everything in between.
Buds and Roses
Visit: https://budsandroses.com/
A secondary dispensary also owned by B-Real.
Cornerstone Wellness
Visit: https://cornerstonecollective.com/
Cornerstone Wellness is a retail medical and recreational shop—and the first evidence-based medical dispensary in the state to track patients’ response to treatments. Co-founded in 2007 by Erica Kay and Carlos De La Torre, Cornerstone Wellness consultants are bi-lingual and well-versed in different cannabinoid therapies.
Sherbinskis
Visit: https://www.sherbinskis.com/
Mario Guzman, the Sherbinskis founder who for years was known only by his street name, Mr. Sherbinski, is a legend amongst cannabis insiders. He not only created some of the best strains (hello Gelato and Sunset Sherbet!), but opened a dispensary in LA full of amazing cannabis for all.
San Francisco
STIIZY Union Square
Visit: https://weedmaps.com/dispensaries/stiiizy-union-square
Cindy De La Vega became San Francisco’s first Latina to own a dispensary in October 2020. Thanks to the Office of Cannabis Equity program in SF that seeks to give priority in new dispensary licenses to applicants whose families’ lives were adversely impacted by the War on Drugs and incarceration for drug crimes, De La Vega was able to see her dreams come true.
San Diego
Klover Dispensary
Visit: https://kloverup.com/
Klover Dispensary was founded by George Phillip Diaz. The shop, which offers a variety of California-grown cannabis products, is decorated with murals and artwork from local artists, and includes a space for events and exhibits.
OREGON
La Mota
Visit: https://www.lamota.com/
La Mota is a sleek, minimalist dispensary named after a Mexican slang term for cannabis; it is co-owned by Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell. They have a series of recreational and medical cannabis shops throughout Oregon, including one in Hollywood, CA, and are expanding. The company carries more than 50 different lab tested strains.
COLORADO
Wolfpac Cannabis
Visit: http://bloomwellnessnj.com/
WolfPac Cannabis provides “high-quality, designer cannabis products” to the Denver recreational community of marijuana users 21 and up. Emanuel Bernal has been in the Denver cannabis business since 2009 and hopes to pass on cannabis wisdom to Denver adult-use customers and create a vibe for the Culture of Cannabis.
MICHIGAN & MISSOURI
From The Earth
Visit: https://fromtheearth.com/
From the Earth (Missouri, Michigan and California) is a medical cannabis dispensary with locations in Kansas City and Independence, Missouri, Hanover, Michigan, and three across California. The dispensary is co-founded by Jayson Quinones and Kintu Patel.
WASHINGTON, DC
National Holistic Healing Center
Visit: https://nationalholistic.com/
National Holistic Healing Center is a medical cannabis dispensary located in Dupont Circle, founded by Afro-Latina entrepreneur, Chanda Macias, MBA, Ph.D. “We specialize in ailment-strain alignment and will recommend the most effective indica or sativa strains for your symptoms,” reads the company’s website.
NEW JERSEY
Bloom Wellness
Visit: http://bloomwellnessnj.com/
Bloom Wellness is a medical cannabis dispensary and wellness center, founded by Cindy Ortiz, and William and Matthew Sirois. The group entered the cannabis industry after Ortiz, “used cannabis to help with the symptoms and side effects of cancer treatments,” according to the company’s website.