Real research to support the unreal attention the food industry now gives to 4/20

As I mentioned in a prior post,  I am not all that keen on all the marijuana buzz devoted to 4/20.   But I am certainly keen on getting a bargain, and this USA Today article highlights how many food retailers are eager to make much of the holiday.  The article is headlined "4/20 specials: 'High' priority list of munchie deals at Pizza Hut, Carl's Jr., Lyft, more," and here is how it sets up the list of offersns:

Saturday is a high-ranking made-up holiday. It's 4/20, aka Weed Day or Pot Day, and that means specials for cannabis fans across the country, regardless of whether they can legally buy pot in their state or not.

This year, more major restaurant chains are getting in the holiday mood including Pizza Hut, which has a sweet brownie deal, and Boston Market with its buy-one-get-one free Pot Pie deal. Plus, Carl’s Jr. says it is the first chain to test a CBD-burger at one Denver location only on Saturday.....

Unlike marijuana, another cannabis species, hemp has almost none of the psychoactive compounds that cause a user to get high. Now that it's no longer labeled a controlled substance, more businesses have the opportunity to create hemp-based products, from tinctures to lotions.

Here are some of munchie deals, not drug deals, though you might find a discounted buzz Saturday....

Whether you think this is misguided or masterful marketing, there is a bit of science behind these tie-ins. Specifically, consider this recent article on SSRN authored by Michele Baggio and Alberto Chong titled "Recreational Marijuana Laws and Junk Food Consumption: Evidence Using Border Analysis and Retail Sales Data."  Here is its abstract:

We use retail scanner data on purchases of high calorie food to study the link between recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) and consumption of high calorie food.  To do this we exploit differences in the timing of introduction of marijuana laws among states and find that they are complements.  Specifically, in counties located in RML states monthly sales of high calorie food increased by 3.1 percent for ice cream, 4.1 for cookies, and 5.3 percent for chips.