In Colorado, there’s a group called the Disability Funding Committee. Its mission is “to maximize support for new and innovative programs benefiting Colorado’s disability community by raising and distributing funds.” In its 2019-2020 fiscal year, the committee awarded six grants totaling $50,000.
All told, thirteen plate names were auctioned off, and $45,410 was raised. The plate that brought in the most money was “ISIT420,” for which someone paid $6,630.
The committee raises funds by auctioning off the right to use certain Colorado vanity license plates. Suppose you live in Colorado and you want to have a license plate that says “MARXIST” or something like that, and that’s one of the names the committee offers up in one of its auctions. You’d compete against others for the right to use that name, and the highest bidder wins, with the proceeds going to the committee.
The most recent online auction opened at 4:20 p.m. on April 1 and closed at 4:20 p.m. on April 20. All of these 4/20 references are because all of the plate names auctioned off in this round were cannabis-themed. The bidding was quite heated to own the right to display plates that said things like “SATIVA,” “BONG,” and “HASH.”
All told, thirteen plate names were auctioned off, and $45,410 was raised. The plate that brought in the most money was “ISIT420,” for which someone paid $6,630.
In second place was “TEGRIDY,” which brought in $4,930. I don’t know what “tegridy” means, so I consulted with an expert—the guy who lives down the hall and smokes a lot of weed. He didn’t know what it meant either. Maybe he’s been smoking too much weed to remember. So I did as many lost souls do when they’re searching for answers and turned to the Internet.
The Urban Dictionary defines “tegridy” as, “The way Randy Marsh pronounces ‘integrity,’ after becoming a marijuana farmer in Colorado, in the South Park episode, ‘Tegridy Farms.’ ”
The website 420dc.com implores everyone shopping for cannabis products to do so with Tegridy, which means “staying true to those whose weed is a way of life and not a way to dominate an industry with deep tye dye and hippie roots . . . .”
It goes on to ask: “What is Tegridy? It’s standing up for what’s right with bravery the same as all the pot smokers did for decades of prohibition. Now that the industry is growing out of its infancy and beginning to mature, consumers need to make a choice.”
I’m still not sure what “tegridy” means, but if someone will pay $4,930 to support programs and services for disabled folks in order to proudly display it on their license plates, that’s cool with me. I’m happy to have such passionate stoners helping fund the movement. I hope this coalition catches on around the country. It somehow makes me feel like, together, we can conquer the world.