Here are some reasons for handwringing about 4/20, the annual unsanctioned pot smokeout in Golden Gate Park: One man was arrested Monday night after assaulting a park employee, and there were two robberies. And last year the celebration cost the city more than $100,000.
But the city was better prepared this year than in the past, with crews returning Hippie Hill to normal by Tuesday morning.
The event itself was mostly a mellow scene. Lots of sitting around, sleeping and, of course, smoking.
“Dabs,” concentrated cannabis cooked down to the consistency of tree sap, seemed especially popular, with devotees using a blowtorch on the smoking device’s heating element, and then vaporizing a dab of the waxy cannabis concentrate with the hot metal. Enthusiasts say it is a much more intense high than the kind delivered 48 years ago at the Summer of Love.
One entrepreneurial booth offered a 2-gram dab (which is a lot) for $10 a pop. A cheering crowd jockeyed to get a clear smartphone video shot of the brave customers.