Pushing Into the Mainstream: Cannabis Takes Centre Stage at Music Festivals

Cannabis never required legalization to become a music festival fixture. At least not formally. Not by a long shot.

Think about the original Woodstock, not just one of the historical events in the world of North American pop culture, but arguably this continent’s quintessential gathering of its kind. As if all the pipes and joints being lit up in the hours upon hours of enduring, iconic footage weren’t enough to convince you, according to untold reports, witnesses and news sources, no less than 99 per cent of the attendees were smoking weed — and Woodstock took place back in August of 1969! Over half a century ago!

Needless to say, legalization of marijuana was not yet passed during that time in New York. Still, despite the presence of a whole lot of other four-letter words that start with the letter ‘D,’ cannabis was easily considered the most prevalent substance at that time.

For those who smoked it, they felt free; free from worry and inhibition, and free from arrest and harassment. And the event itself? Not surprisingly, it was actually quite peaceful. (Remember, we’re talking about the original Woodstock here, not the regrettable mess that Woodstock ‘99 devolved into. Sigh.)

So, no, cannabis didn’t need to be made legal in Canada to be viewed as an essential element of the music festival experience. But let’s not kid ourselves: it’s helped. That’s because cannabis is no longer being embraced exclusively at Canadian music festivals as a means of elevating live acoustics or amplifying your euphoria or what have you, but some music festivals are transforming into unprecedented and vibrant catalysts for cannabis culture itself.

Take Journey Festival, a sprawling event that promised to blend cannabis education with a summer music festival. The premises were set to include a beer village, booths selling cannabis paraphernalia and culture items, and a selection of licensed producers who would discuss trends and products, but not actually sell weed.

Or Ever After Music Festival, which allowed attendees to bring herb into the event — and consume it. Sure, ticket holders were still frisked at the gate, but single-day ones were allowed to tote up to 10 grams of dried flower, and campers were permitted up to 28 grams to be kept at their designated sites. The only catch was the cannabi needed to be pre-rolled.

Even the Toronto Craft Beer Festival featured a “potio,” which was a designated cannabis consumption zone separate from the beer-swilling and cigarette-hacking areas. It made history as the first provincially-backed and age-gated consumption lounge open to the Canadian public.

And those are just a small handful of Canadian examples. In the States — specifically California, where cannabis has been legal for medicinal use since 1996 and recreational use since late 2016 — you’ve got undertakings like Northern Nights and Outside Lands.

The former is one of the first overnight, three-day festivals in the U.S. to legally allow recreational cannabis sales and consumption. The latter? It welcomed no less than 28 cannabis companies, with edibles also highlighted (pun intended) via enhanced chocolates, gummies and mints.

The idea here is pretty clear: to disrupt the stigma of cannabis in a fun, safe and collective way, as well as further ‘normalize’ the industry. Still, despite legalization, these cannabis-friendly music festivals aren’t entirely beyond facing a few impediments or difficulties. In other words, it isn’t smooth sailing just yet. Unfortunately, new bylaws introduced by the City of Vaughan actually forced the cancellation of the aforementioned Journey Festival. They allowed Vaughan to regulate smoking of tobacco and cannabis within city boundaries. Are bylaws like these all about self-preservation and status quo thinking, and stigmatizing action that hurts the legal market? Are they situating fast-growing municipalities like Vaughan on the wrong side of history? It’s neither the time, nor the place, to field loaded questions like that. Moreover, we’re not exactly sure we should be the ones trying to answer them. Instead, let’s celebrate the fact that while cannabis has already been a part of festival culture for decades, thanks to legalization, the best, brightest and boldest still looks yet to come.

Rock on!

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This article was written by Chris Metler. 

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This article was published October 25nd, 2019.