Call it a case of Reefer Madness..An Edmonton pot shop is marking its grand opening today — on 420 — with what it hopes will be the world’s largest joint. AB BUD, a cannabis dispensary and Alberta Bud, a micro-craft cannabis grower are teaming up to mark the counterculture holiday starting at noon at its west-end location on Stony Plain Road and 161st Street..“We're thrilled to be hosting this promotional event with AB BUD," said Alberta Bud co-owner Tim Mallett. "We know that 420 is a special day for cannabis lovers, and we wanted to do something big to mark the grand opening. Rolling the world's largest doobie seemed like the perfect way to celebrate.”.For the rest of us squares, 420 is marked around the world as a half celebration of weed culture and half call to action for legalization and liberalization of cannabis laws. It was started in 1971 by a group of high school students in San Rafael, Calif. who called themselves the Waldos — named after a Grateful Dead roadie — and gather after class at 4:20 pm to indulge their favourite pastime. . Reefer madness .Starting around 1991 it was adopted by pro-cannabis groups like the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advocating for its legalization. Users typically gather in parks or near government buildings to puff for fun where it is legal, and as an act of civil disobedience where it isn’t..Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001 and recreationally since October 2018. Recreational use is presently legal in 21 US states and is decriminalized in 10 more. Another 16 states allow it for medical purposes only..Alberta Bud didn’t say how big its record-breaking reefer will be, but it has some stiff competition. The world’s largest joint in absolute terms of size was rolled on 420 in 2016. The appropriately named Tony Greenhand took five days to roll a 1.9 kg — 4.2 pounds — watermelon shaped joint with a special base that allowed him to smoke it through a hose..The world’s biggest blunt was a 5-pound bazooka shaped behemoth with a trigger that reportedly took four hours to smoke at a 420 celebration in Los Angeles in 2017.. Bazooka BluntSelf—described ‘blunt artist’ who goes by the Instagram handle Weaver, shows off the Bazooka Blunt in Los Angeles in 2017. .The world record for the most expensive joint consisted of 1.5 pounds of flower, bubble hash and solventless concentrates rolled in 24-karat gold cigarette paper. The 30-inch doobie wasn’t actually smoked, but rather, auctioned for $24,000 US in 2018..But the record for the world’s largest weed farm, according to Blunt magazine, goes to Edmonton-based Aurora Cannabis which operates an 800,000 square foot greenhouse in Alberta covering 30 acres. In 2019 it was producing about 8,000 kilos of herb a month.
