KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police across the region and country were out in force Saturday looking for impaired drivers as part of this weekend's "Drive HIgh, Get a DUI" campaign.
The launch coincided with April 20, or 4/20. It's a day that has become an unofficial holiday for people who smoke marijuana.
The Hemp Haus acknowledged the counterculture's "international day to get high" with a pub crawl.
"It is the national stoner holiday," Hemp Haus CEO and organizer Eric Oligschlaeger said. "We all had a really hard winter. I know a lot of people suffered in retail, so we banded together with a lot of the restaurants in the area and created a really cool CBD-infused food-and-beverage, craft-cocktail crawl for the day."
Businesses along the 39th Street corridor, like the Black Sheep Restaurant and Market, joined in on the unique event, hoping to bring more green to their bottom line.
"We'll take all the extra foot traffic we can get our hands on," owner Marty Enslein said.
The restaurant even created a CBD-infused drink for the event.
"All the flavors of the cocktail is what stands out, not so much the CBD oil," Enslein said.
While people attending the event made sure to stay within the bounds of the law, police were busy keeping a watchful eye out for those who were not being safe by getting high and driving.
"We want to make sure that that message is out there, that marijuana is not safer than other drugs when driving under the influence," Missouri Department of Transportation Assistant to the State Highway Safety and Traffic Engineer Jon Nelson said. "It's just like those other things, like alcohol."
Cody Mixon, who attended the Hemp Haus event, said the message had been received.
"They're out; I've seen them," Mixon said. "I see the commercial. They've got the dogs out and everything today, but that's good. It's going to stop people from being too wild, and you don't want anybody impaired on the streets."
Even though Jackson County doesn't prosecute most marijuana cases anymore, it wont stop police from citing those who violate the law.
