“They will be back up and operating by 4/20, the unofficial celebration day of all things marijuana.”
We are not exactly getting our hopes up that cannabis media coverage will improve anytime soon, but today we actually saw a small sign of maturity that warmed our hearts.
Five years ago, if a car drove into a dispensary in Massachusetts, there would be a dozen I told you so op-eds published from Pittsfield to Plymouth before the ambulance arrived. Weed would have been blamed for it, with no mention of the countless window crashers all across the country who doze off on pharmaceuticals.
But to their credit, reporters at NBC 10 WJAR treated the news of somebody driving into Zahara on Thursday like they would a story about somebody plowing into a nail salon. Or a Whole Foods.
The segment does start a bit over the top, with one of the anchors jumping out of her skin to report: “What a scene! Right now, at a marijuana dispensary, a car slams right into the dispensary in Attleboro.”
The sensationalism ends there though. The other anchor throws it to “Molly Levine, live on the scene,” which rhymes and may be the best spot reporter name in history. And she breaks it down for us.
Here’s what we know: the crash happened at around 1:30 pm; police say a 61-year-old woman drove into the building before coming to a stop inside; two people were hit by the car, a 42-year-old woman who was outside of the building, and a 34-year-old man who was inside; everyone involved was taken to nearby hospitals; an investigation is ongoing.
A big hole was left behind in the front wall, but that’s not going to hold back Zahara. And that’s where the best part of the clip comes, as Molly Levine on the scene says she spoke with the store’s manager, and “they will be back up and operating by 4/20 … the unofficial celebration day of all things marijuana. They say they have a big event planned, their second annual Smoked Out 4/20 Fest.”
Needless to say, those are not words that you would have ever heard out of the mouth of a newscaster in the 2000s. She not only said it with a perfectly straight face, but threw in the plug at the end—with no judgment.
It’s the kind of thing that used to go insanely viral; today, it’s just another news segment. As long as nobody was seriously injured, I’d say that’s a win.
