In New York, 420 has become a familiar date in Washington Square Park and Tompkins Square Park, where smokers gather to mark the cannabis holiday with joints, music and a loose street-party mood.

One reveller, Jackie Win, called it 'like New Year's basically, but for everyone that smokes'. Reports from the 2026 gathering said the scene shifted between the two parks as police tightened access in Washington Square Park.

Adult-use cannabis is legal in New York for people 21 and over, under state law passed in 2021.

The annual ritual shows how fast the city has normalised public talk around weed, even if the rules on where to smoke still matter.