Ben & Jerry's Founders Celebrate 4/20 By Encouraging Lawmakers To Expunge Pot Convictions

Ade Johnson/AFP/Getty Images
By  Gwen Ihnat

April 20 used to be a day in which pot fans celebrated their favorite vice merely by partaking of weed, possibly in a large college quad, to enable more contact highs. But as the pot legalization movement has grown, even 4/20 has become more mainstream, now tied to marketing efforts like $4.20 Lyft rides, $4.20 cheeseburgers with CBD, or social media statements by various pro-decriminalization politicians.

Part of that wave is the world's most progressive ice cream company, Ben & Jerry's, makers of flavors like Phish Food and the Grateful Dead homage Cherry Garcia. B&J's sent out the following video on 4/20, calling on lawmakers to expunge "everybody's cannabis convictions":

The short video points out the disparity between the large number of white people making money off of legalized pot versus the large number of black people arrested for pot usage. It concludes, "Let's celebrate 4/20 this year by making sure legalization doesn't leave people of color behind."

Those looking for more info can visit Ben & Jerry's website. At the top of the page, visitors will find not the latest ice cream flavors (although there is a mention of the brand's new Cookie Dough Chunks), but a section devoted to "Justice Remix'd," with the tall order "Together, we can reimagine justice." Related articles cover not just the 4/20 message, but also topics like the Green New Deal and Front End Criminal Justice reform.

Ben & Jerry's still had some fun with the 4/20 holiday, however, encouraging its fans to order pot from cannabis startup Caliva, throwing in a free pint of Half Baked ice cream in the process.

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