Berks police plan DUI checkpoint, roving patrols on 4/20 weekend
Apr. 19—Police in Berks County will employ sobriety checkpoints and roving DUI patrols this weekend in anticipation of a rise in impaired driving with Saturday's date having significance in the cannabis culture.
April 20 (4/20) has long been associated with marijuana use. The story goes that a group of high schoolers arrange to meet at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana in front of a campus statue in southern California in the 1970s.
Whatever the reason, those in the cannabis culture embrace the date as a holiday, with events such as the Pennsylvania Cannabis Festival, which is taking place Saturday and Sunday on the grounds of Renninger's Antique and Farmers Market and is expected to draw thousands of visitors.
The enforcement activities are part of Berks law enforcement's sustained impaired driving enforcement efforts. Police will be vigilant in taking alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers off the roads to make them safer for all drivers.
Sobriety checkpoints and roving patrols are funded by PennDOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
