Marijuana Institute Sparks Up a $420, 4/20 Deal Before it Goes up in Smoke

A marijuana school in Natick that trains dispensary workers is taking advantage of the pot-friendly date, and offering a deal to prospective students.

The Northeastern Institute of Cannabis is asking prospective students to take advantage of a 4/20 promotion, which is $420 down with $420 off, and a chance to get $420 on tuition. That would be tuition free of charge.

“Don’t wait, this offer will be gone by the time the smoke clears,” the school posts on its Facebook page.

For those who were never fond of sparking up the reefer, “420” has long been a code term in cannabis culture for those who are marijuana-friendly (yes, that is what that person was talking about on the dating site). According to Wikipedia, the term erupted out of a story of a group of people in San Rafael, CA, who hung outside of the wall of a school and searched for pot crop at 4:20 every day.

The initial deposit to take classes at the Northeastern Institute of Cannabis was $700, trimmed back to $420, reported the Boston Globe.

“We hope that enthusiasts will choose to come to the Northeastern Institute of Cannabis and learn more about the plant and the science behind it — this makes it a little easier to enroll,” Cara Crabb-Burnham, the school’s administrator, told the Globe.

The Northeastern Institute of Cannabis opened in September of last year in an office park at 10 Tech Circle.

The “trade” school drew interest as far as away as Spain and Russia, and has two classrooms to train medical dispensary workers. There are others in Massachusetts, including the New England Grass Roots Institute and the Cannabis Career Institute.

Voters approved Massachusetts opening of medical marijuana facilities in 2012, with a law that allows up to 35 in the state. By the end of January, 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health gave licenses for 20 dispensaries in 19 communities, according to NPR.

420 Day in Boston is celebrated on the common on April 20, called the MassCann/NORML Cannabis Gathering. According to Party Earth, “Stoned citizens sit in drum circles and take in the beautiful, visually stimulating sites of the centuries-old Boston Common. Blazed celebrants who find an enticing red line on the park’s cobble stone (the Freedom Trail) can follow it to other psychedelic and historic spots around Beantown like the Bunker Hill Monument, USS Constitution, and the Paul Revere House.”

Editor’s Note: This article was scheduled to run on Patch at 4:20 p.m.