SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco’s 4/20 festival at Golden Gate Park is less than a month away, which results in thousands of marijuana users gathering on the park’s Hippie Hill to celebrate the event. The city of San Francisco have spent over $50,000 cleaning up the area after the event.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee stated,:“We’ve had discussions about how to end this event, but the reality is that it would break into four or five different events and then we couldn’t control any of it.”

City officials have decided that instead of trying to stop the festivities, they will become involved because recreational marijuana was recently made legal in the state. The 4/20 event will be city-permitted, complete with sponsors, fences and gates paid for by neighboring Haight Street merchants. It is by law still illegal to smoke in the park.

“You know it’s, it’s like critical mass, just like the pillow fights at Justin Herman Plaza: People come,” Mayor Lee added.