Folks, the numbers are in, and sheesh, you guys really went for it this Independence Day weekend.

Thanks to data provided by a handful of cannabis analytics and marketing companies including Headset, Flowhub, and Lantern, we have some bold insights into the power of July 4 to compel you, America’s Fans of The Plant, to buy weed. A lot of weed.

Read on to learn more about the types of products folks bought, when sales peaked, and how the holiday weekend compared to other times of the year.

Only 4/20 racked up more sales than July 1

We all know that 4/20 is the Holy Grail, the biggest day for cannabis sales in America. But, at least so far in 2022, July 1st gets to take home the silver medal.

According to data provided by Flowhub, on July 1st—which fell on a Friday—sales climbed 15% higher than an average Friday.

That tracks with what Leafly saw on its online ordering platform: On July 1, sales spiked 17% over the previous Friday.

This data suggests that cannabis consumers wanted to stock up for the weekend on July 1, and then get their party on without having to head back to the store. Respect.

Sales remained strong over the weekend on July 2 and 3—just a couple of percentage points over average weekend sales—and then they dropped a tiny bit below average Monday sales figures on the holiday itself.

Pre-rolls had a moment over the holiday weekend

It’s no surprise that consumers leaned into the Holy Trinity—flower, edibles, and vapes—over the holiday weekend.

But Headset reports that pre-rolls saw a 6% increase on July 4, specifically. 

The home delivery platform Lantern presented similar data, and pointed out that cannabis beverages also got more love than usual. 

Canada Day didn’t fare quite as well

While Americans proved ready to open their wallets for Independence Day, our neighbors to the north didn’t exactly turn out the same way for the national holiday of Canada Day, on July 1.

According to Headset, sales on the holiday itself dipped 23% below the average of the previous four Fridays. 

Residents of Ontario really didn’t feel like shopping: sales dropped 29% on the holiday.

I guess the Canadians just prefer to celebrate their national holidays in a different style, eh?

Max Savage Levenson

Max Savage Levenson likely has the lowest cannabis tolerance of any writer on the cannabis beat. He also writes about music for Pitchfork, Bandcamp and other bespectacled folk. He co-hosts The Hash podcast. His dream interview is Tyler the Creator.

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These tasty, friendly treats are the face of hemp edibles.

Get 50% off all gummies from The Hemp Doctor with code LEAFLY50.

In the olden days of cannabis, most people consumed it by just buying a bag of flower and smoking it—or, if they were feeling fancy, perhaps baking it into a brownie or cookie full of cannabis flavor. But the changing face of cannabis means a shift in demographics. With hemp-based products, whether they contain delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC, CBD, or other cannabinoids, gummies and other discreet edibles reign supreme.

What’s responsible for this shifting tide? First of all, making everything above-board has increased recreational cannabis and hemp producers’ options considerably, especially in the hemp world. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, better known as the 2018 Farm Bill, legalized the production of hemp as long as the end product has less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight.

Making hemp federally legal meant cannabis pros could open labs and state-of-the-art facilities, then collaborate and share knowledge with others across the country. Hemp producers have even started offering something that previously only recreational markets could—noticeable levels of traditional, delta-9 THC.

All these new capabilities allow hemp pros to make tastier, more convenient treats than ever before for both seasoned and beginner consumers alike—everybody loves gummies—and it gives the newbies some unintimidating options. On a more scientific level, being able to deal with isolated elements of the hemp plant means that producers can achieve much more accurate dosing, and even fine-tune specific blends of terpenes and cannabinoids.

“Gummies really helped to destigmatize cannabis,” notes Robert Shade, owner of education-forward cannabis brand, The Hemp Doctor. “My dad’s 87 years old, and he’s finally accepted that THC and weed aren’t that bad.”

Familiar experience

For those who got their first exposure to cannabis through after-school specials, smoking, tasting, or even vaping cannabis can be off-putting. It calls to mind outdated stereotypes about drug use that are hard to shake and can make many people nervous, even if they want to try THC. Gummies, along with a whole new generation of edibles, offer a variety of familiar, approachable options, allowing those new to cannabis or coming back from a very long break to choose what works for them. These options are so effective, says Shade, because they’re easy to use and people “can choose their own options as opposed to having to smoke something.”

Unprecedented accuracy

It’s not just the form and flavor that’s user-friendly. Modern gummies typically provide a straightforward, consistent experience, so it’s harder to accidentally overdo or underdo it—a common pitfall with old-school homemade baked goods.

To ensure ultra-accurate, predictable dosing, trustworthy producers check potency at multiple points throughout the process. The Hemp Doctor starts right at the beginning of the process by testing individual distillates before sending them off to manufacturers. When they come back, they test again.

“We don’t rely on the manufacturers to provide those reports; we source those reports ourselves,” explains Shade. “It’s important in the cannabis arena regardless of what you’re making, whether it’s a gummy bear or a vape cart.”

With reliable lab results, producers can get the same THC and CBD levels each time, avoiding surprises for customers. This accurate record also allows them to make specific blends of terpenes and minor cannabinoids. It’s a scientific concept known as the “entourage effect,” which means that elements of cannabis, when put together, can create unique effects that they couldn’t have on their own. When you know exactly what you’re putting in there, it’s much easier to tease out the effects of each blend to create, for example, a gummy that’s especially helpful for those with insomnia or one with just the right amount of daytime vigor.

“We’ve really believed from the onset that it’s not just CBD and it’s not just THC,” says Shade. “There’s CBG, CBN, and there’s CBC, just to name a few. There’s a whole multitude of cannabinoids that we continue to educate ourselves on.

“We recognized pretty quickly these various cannabinoids played a big role in cannabis’s impact on people,” he adds. “From that point, we just took it to say, ‘what’s the safest, and most effective way to blend it?’” 

Variety for everybody

In the past, edible flavor options were essentially limited to weed or the slightly-more-subtle chocolate weed. Those days are long gone now, and nothing showcases the edible’s renaissance quite like the humble gummy. The flavor options are nearly infinite, with a selection that rivals the gummies in the actual candy aisle.

They’re also easy to adjust to dietary needs like vegan, keto, or gluten-free—and with so many options available, you can find pretty much any cannabis edible, whether it’s a gummy, cookie, or savory snack, that meets your needs in brain, body, and taste buds.

Choosing the right gummies

Just because producers can make higher-quality goods doesn’t mean they actually do, and some even get lazy enough to just spray isolates on top of gummies instead of infusing them. The Hemp Doctor does it right by blending their formula of isolates/distillates together, then mixing it right into the gummy product before they’re molded. They also publish third-party certificates of analysis, or verified lab results, for each product, a must-have from trustworthy brands.

Get 50% off all The Hemp Doctor gummies with code LEAFLY50.

This small selection of gummies meets not only The Hemp Doctor’s strict quality standards, but a variety of preferences for potency, effects, and flavors, giving some idea of how versatile gummies can be.

D-9 Downshift: These gummies have a mixed-fruit flavor and a subtle-yet-euphoric effect from a blend of 7.5mg delta-9 THC and 1mg each of CBC, CBG, and CBN.

D-8 Gummy Worms: Feeling like putting the “trip” in “trip down memory lane”? Each of these sweet-and-sour gummy worms has a full 30mg of delta-8 THC with only trace amounts of other cannabinoids.

Delta-9 THC/CBD/CBN Nighttime Gummies: Each of these potent gummies has 12.5mg of delta-9 THC, enough to feel its effects, along with 15mg of CBD and 5mg of CBN for the perfect evening wind-down.

Delta-8 Vegan Gummy: These gummies pack the same potency as the Delta-8 Gummy Worms—that’s 30mg a pop—into a vegan, pectin-based treat that comes in a rotating selection of tasty flavors like watermelon, mango, and lemon.

Delta-9 THC/CBD Full Spectrum Gummy: Another vegan option, these low-key treats each have 12.5mg of delta-9 THC and 15mg of CBD and come in tangerine, watermelon, and elderberry flavors.

Delta-9 Vegan Gummy: These vegan gummies each contain 25mg of premium delta-9 THC with 10 pieces per bag. Find them in blue raspberry, cherry, grape, green apple, pineapple, and watermelon.

Go forth and get your gummy on with these recommendations and a vast world of federally legal hemp-based options for fans of recreational hemp. The Hemp Doctor supplies high-quality, lab-tested cannabinoid products in a huge spectrum of formats, so start your search with them and see what new favorites you discover.

Leafly novel cannabinoid disclaimer:

Use and possession may be restricted by law. This product may expose you to harmful chemical byproducts.

“Fruit on your pizza is gnarly, you say? Well, I say try before you deny.”

The last two episodes of Stranger Things 4 has dropped on Netflix, and one character we can’t get enough of is Argyle, portrayed by Eduardo Franco. Along with having a luxurious head of flowing hair and some incredible one-liners, Argyle showed the signs of a true self-care king by frequently going to his van and lighting up his favorite calming strain, Purple Palm Tree Delight.

Unfortunately, Purple Palm Tree Delight is completely fictitious at this point in history, and can’t be found in a dispensary near you. But the good news is, we’ve got strains similar to Purple Tree Delight based on our astute observations (a.k.a. binge-watch) of Stranger Things 4 and our extensive strain database.

Check out the strains that we think are pretty similar to Purple Palm Tree Delight due to their names, lineage, flavor, or effects:

Purple Punch

Purple Punch is a strain created from two indicas, making it a wonderful option for falling back to sleep after you dreamed of being chased by a Demodog or something equally scary.

The strain delivers mind and body relaxing effects that can help you catch some good zzz’s or fight the nausea you feel about the idea of those kids returning to the Upside Down yet again.

Grape Gasoline

Grape Gasoline delivers on a robust grape smell with hints of diesel, making us think it’s just as loud as PPTD. This is thanks to its lineage as a cross between Grape Pie and Jet Fuel Gelato.

Leafly reviewers report that this myrcene-rich strain is a potent and uplifting treat that still allows them to unwind, and we think that there’s a good chance Argyle would give it a try.

Forbidden Fruit

Something about Purple Palm Tree Delight reminds us of Forbidden Fruit. Probably because both strains sound fruity and tropical and are known for their purple hues. We recommend Forbidden Fruit for some serious chill time on the couch thinking through life’s hardest questions like: ‘Would I really follow my friends into a demon dimension to save the world in 2022?’

Violet Delight

This one is too similar for us not to mention. Violet Delight might just have been part of the inspiration for Purple Palm Tree Delight with its purple nugs, mind-relaxing effects, and obvious name similarity.

This hybrid strain is also known for being a stress-buster that puts a smile on your face, which, honestly, sounds like Argyle’s entire life philosophy.

Granddaddy Purple

Granddaddy Purple has a reputation for being a strain with sedating effects, so we hope that this isn’t too close to what Argyle was smoking while operating his pizza delivery van. Still, there’s very rarely a list of purples that shouldn’t include the Granddaddy of them all. Or should we call it, Papa’s Papa Purple?

Purple Pineapple Express

We’re sure you can see how this one made the list too. Not only are both of the strain names pretty purple-y and reminiscent of an island vacation, but Purple Pineapple Express is exactly the type of munchie-inducing strain that we can see as an inspiration for Purple Palm Tree Delight and Argyle’s pizza-loving ways.

Rewatching Stranger Things?

Interested in Purple Palm Tree Delight because you love watching the show?

Here are some strains we think Stranger Things enthusiasts will love, whether watching Season 4 or rewatching from the beginning:

Waffle Cone

Eleven Roses

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Amnesia Haze

Papa’s OG

Janessa Bailey

Janessa Bailey was born and raised in the Midwest and serves as Leafly’s culture editor. She enjoys exploring the many ways that weed can tie into everyday life and rarely turns down an edible.

Janessa is the creator of Lumen and Seeds of Change.

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No, there is no scream-vomiting outbreak among American stoners.

The anti-weed folks are at it again. Over the weekend, a British tabloid claimed that there is an epidemic in America of people smoking weed and scromiting—an absolutely vivid portmanteau word combining scream and vomit. 

For the record: No, stoners are not taking one puff off a joint and scromiting in the middle of the street; nor is someone in your smoking circle going to spontaneously start scromiting after a toke, forcing everyone else to take cover before the weed kicks in. Or worse yet, start a chain reaction of scromiting in the whole circle.

Sensationalism aside, the article alludes to something called cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, a medical condition, but one that is so little understood that not everyone can agree that it even exists. 

This latest scare in the British tabloid is just one more entry in a long list of anti-weed propaganda, meant to vilify the plant and keep it outlawed. Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, or scromiting, if it does exist, has only been diagnosed in a small number of people, and there certainly isn’t an influx of stoners falling ill to the condition and flooding hospitals. 

Scromiting, explained?

Last Saturday, Britain’s Daily Mail published a piece called “How California’s legal cannabis dream became a public health nightmare,” and our eyes quickly rolled back in our heads with a loud thunk. 

The article is melodramatic at best, focusing on the legal weed industry in LA and California, and painting it in a negative light, making wild medical claims as to how bad weed is and how it’s ruining society.   

Perhaps most concerning, the article frequently cites “studies” to back up its claims, but we couldn’t find one link to a study or the name of a single study in the whole article. Call us skeptical.

Oh and there’s also a doubling of something odd called ‘scromiting’. That’s screaming and vomiting which lasts for weeks on end, with no treatment. A result of long term use of high potency cannabis.

— Eve Simmons (@EveSimmns) July 2, 2022

The issue of scromiting comes up in an interview with Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency doctor at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego: “‘It means screaming and violent vomiting,’ says Dr Lev. ‘I call it the audible cannabis condition, because I hear the violent screams down the hall before I see the patient.’” Lev continued, saying that she sees at least one scromiting patient per shift.

The article goes on to say that “Three young men have died from complications of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome since it was first identified in 2004.” 

We’d like to remind our readers that no one has died from consuming cannabis, and we find it hard to believe that there are so many patients with this condition at only one hospital. Also, you’d think that a condition where people scream and vomit at the same time would have gotten a little more recognition by now. Just imagine the memes.

Dr. Peter Grinspoon, Primary Care Doctor and Teacher at Harvard Medical, and cannabis advocate and educator, perhaps explains the Reefer Madness-like propaganda of the article best:

Are #British citizens educated on #cannabis & #MMJ issues to identify #reefermadness?
.@EveSimmns didn’t speak to single doctor who treats people & bought nonsense (some of which has kernal of truth) hook line & sinker
(unless that was agenda of article)https://t.co/MbMM1XzTlP

— Peter Grinspoon, M.D. (@Peter_Grinspoon) July 3, 2022

What is scromiting, or cannabis hyperemesis syndrome?

Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is a condition associated with heavy cannabis use over a long period of time. Symptoms include:

• Morning sickness
• Abdominal pain and discomfort
• Nausea
• Vomiting, sometimes for hours at a time
• Persistent washing or showering

Perhaps the oddest symptom—persistent washing or showering—seems to develop as the condition progresses, and the reason why this symptom manifests isn’t fully understood. It may be to soothe nausea, or as a 2011 study suggests, “hot bathing may act by correcting the cannabis-induced equilibrium of the thermoregulatory system of the hypothalamus,” meaning, frequent hot showers somehow balance the body’s systems.

These symptoms can continue for days, months or even years, and are thought to disappear when cannabis consumption stops.

Is scromiting real?

Whether or not the condition is real is contentious. CHS has only been acknowledged in the past several years, so research on it is sparse and little is known about it. As a result, it is often thought to be confused with and misdiagnosed from cyclic vomiting syndrome, another little-known condition with unclear causes that doesn’t seem to be linked to weed in any way. 

CHS first popped up in an Australian study in 2004, when researchers noticed that ten people with cyclical vomiting symptoms were all chronic cannabis users. Seven of the subjects abstained from weed and resolved their vomiting symptoms, while the other three refused to abstain and their symptoms continued.

Others claim CHS is the result of consuming neem oil, an organic pesticide often sprayed on cannabis, but neem oil poisoning seems to be different than CHS.

Adding to the confusion of scromiting is the fact that cannabis is commonly prescribed medically to treat nausea, often for patients undergoing chemotherapy, and other patients. 

The 2011 study cited above suggests that cannabis may have unknown actions on the gut of some individuals. It suggests that other cannabinoids in the plant, CBD and CBG, may play a role in the condition: CBD is biphasic, meaning it can have different effects at low and high doses, and that when taken in high doses, the combination of CBD and CBG might add to nausea and vomiting. 

To be clear, these ideas are all speculation and not scientific fact. Although there have been more studies on the condition in the past several years, the causes of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome are still unknown.

At the end of the day, some individuals do experience severe bouts of vomiting and other symptoms associated with CHS, and some do experience relief of those symptoms after quitting weed. If you are experiencing severe vomiting episodes, you should absolutely talk to your doctor or go to the ER, and if ceasing cannabis consumption helps alleviate symptoms, by all means, consider it.

But there is no epidemic of weed illness. Those claiming that scromiting is a new plague infecting society are leaning into a Reefer Madness-style hysteria meant to make people afraid of cannabis and keep it outlawed.

Pat Goggins

Pat Goggins is a senior editor who handles Leafly’s informational content and specializes in cannabis cultivation after working for a commercial grower in Oregon. When not fixing typos, you’ll probably find him on a boat or in the mountains.

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