Music festivals are a unique and interesting experience for any attendee. Marked by good vibes, chill music and head banging, festivals have long been a way for like-minded people to enjoy listening to their favorite artists. Some festivals are just during the day, while others are overnight events that involve camping on the site or renting a room at a nearby hotel.
For many years marijuana users have had to find creative and risky ways to sneak their cannabis products into these events. Music festivals around the world all have different levels of security; some having drug-sniffing police dogs, some having metal detectors, and some having security guards patting you down. Attempting to sneak any drugs into a festival is clearly against the rules, and anyone who is caught doing this risks losing their right to enter the festival. This can mean wasting hundreds of dollars on tickets, transportation and more.
This year at the Northern Nights Music Festival along the Eel River in northern California, cannabis vendors are going to legally be allowed to sell their products to concert-goers over the age of 21. This specific geographical location falls smack in the middle of the Emerald Triangle, a region widely renowned for production of top quality cannabis.
There will be 20 local manufacturers and cultivators selling their products at a special location inside the festival dubbed “The Tree Lounge.” This lounge features a “Tree Stage,” where there will be live performances in addition to the ones happening on the main stages. The Tree Lounge will offer spaces and services that provide cannabis-related activities for attendees such as body work, CBD-infused yoga, medicinal-infused plant workshops, and more!
In September of 2018, cannabis retailers celebrated a victory in lawmaking when the state of California passed a bill allowing access to temporary licenses for cannabis sales and consumption for events such as music festivals for retailers that already have licenses to sell cannabis products commercially to adults. Humboldt County, where the Northern Nights Festival will take place, granted a license to the festival. Concert goers can still enjoy alcoholic beverages, but will have to cross over into the Mendocino County part of the festival to consume it, just as marijuana users will have to cross over into Humboldt County to use their drug of choice.
Since this festival is the first of its kind, many other towns and future festival hosting locations will be looking to see how it all turns out. Hopefully if the entire event goes by without any issues, other festivals will look to The Northern Nights Music festival for what to do right and what to avoid. Separating cannabis sales from the rest of the festival seems like a good start, but those in charge will have to make more regulations and make sure all attendees are aware of the rules before they allow them to purchase any cannabis products. Some advice to anyone going to the festival that is planning on using cannabis, don’t ruin it for the rest of us before we even get to try it out.
