Of all 12, April’s the month I feel most lucky to live in Austin, Texas: perfect temps, native plants in bloom, and lots of people in high spirits getting together to do their fun outdoor activities. Plus there’s weed events happening every weekend: Reggae Fest, 4/20 parties, Eeyore’s Birthday, the Kite Festival, the Renaissance Faire… that marching band festival.
But Reggae Fest – which blesses-up its 30th year this weekend at Auditorium Shores – really is an iconic weed event to me. It felt like Austin’s decriminalization experiment. Back when marijuana enforcement was still harsh, I’d see APD officers standing there, bobbing their heads to the basslines of Israel Vibration with 3,000 people actively smoking weed all around them. And everything was copacetic.
What then seemed like a three-day hall pass from the law, Austinites now enjoy all year. In 2020, City Council ordered APD to end arrests for misdemeanor marijuana charges. Two years later, a proposition to decriminalize cannabis possession passed massively with 86% of votes. Not in favor of it: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose lawsuit against the city for not enforcing state laws on marijuana was dismissed last June.
So despite everything, Austin remains a delightful place for folks who like weed.
We have a tolerant bar culture where you can smoke a joint on the patio, underground pop-up markets, head shops galore, cannabis culinary events, a vibrant glass-art scene, a highly visible world of hemp dispensaries, and – now more than ever – access to great marijuana at solid prices and low legal risk.
This week’s super-sized The Austin Chronic will touch on topics of family, medicine, religion, and answering the bell… but first I want to talk about buying weed.
Read Kevin Curtin’s cannabis column The Austin Chronic in print every other week. Subscribe to The Austin Chronic newsletter at austinchronicle.com/newsletters.
This article appears in April 18 • 2025.