It's also possible that you have more Deadheads in your class than you realize . 4-20 was the date that Jerry Garcia died . Bong hits are traditionally observed at 4:20 am or pm each day in memorium , but people still go to work/school .
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It may seem like just another Tuesday, but today -- called 4:20 by those in the know -- is a high holy day for North America's dedicated pot smokers.
To some, April 20 is a good day to light up a joint and celebrate marijuana with friends. To others, its a time to protest against the fact that, despite moves toward decriminalization, the drug is still illegal in both Canada and the United States.
"It's Pothead New Year's. That's what I like to call it, anyway," said Abi Roach of Roach-O-Rama, a store in Toronto's Kensington Market area that caters to marijuana users.
It's also a time for political activism. The spirit of the annual commemoration is "everybody unite and show your true colours, come out of your grow closets and let everybody know that you smoke and not to be embarrassed of it," said Ms. Roach, a pseudonym she has adopted to protect herself and her family from harassment.
She expects an "all-day celebration" at her store.
Rallies and parties will take place across Canada today, particularly in the bigger cities where the marijuana culture maintains a more visible presence. Young people will skip class to smoke up with their friends. Movie cinemas will hold special 4:20 showings. And a marijuana boat cruise will set sail in Vancouver.
But the most dramatic event may be the "smoke-out" on Highway 420 in Niagara Falls, Ont., that is being planned by a group called Cannabis in Canada. Supporters of legalization will gather beside the highway where it meets the Rainbow Bridge leading into the United States and light their joints.
Marco Renda, an advocate for medicinal marijuana, is on the list of speakers.
"We're going to be out there doing a peaceful protest, basically making the public aware of marijuana being for medical and other uses," Mr. Renda said.
The federal government is considering a bill that would decriminalize the possession of 15 grams or less -- about 15 to 20 joints - making the offence punishable by a fine of $150 for an adult or $100 for a youth.
But, unlike last summer when the laws were in limbo and the drug was smoked freely on the streets, police are aggressively laying marijuana charges. So, those who take part in public 4:20 events will be risking a brush with the law.
Robin Ellins of the Friendly Stranger Cannabis Culture Shop in Toronto said 4:20 celebrations have existed for about six years in Canada and the United States.
"This has been flying under the radar of parents for a long time," he said. "I find that kind of interesting because it's huge within the culture, everybody knows about it."
[b]The origins of the 4:20 tradition are part mystery and part urban myth. Some say it is the number of a police call used in California during the 1960s.
But "the most believable [explanation] that I've heard is that three guys that went to university in California would meet up at 4:20 for a joint between classes and that started a trend," Ms. Roach said.Regular users say 4:20 p.m. -- or a.m. -- is traditionally the perfect time of day for lighting up. Doing it on April 20 compounds the experience.[/b]
"All of the different cannabis-related businesses usually do something on this day," Mr. Ellins said. "It's definitely a North American phenomenon. It's gone so far that there's rolling papers [with 4:20 on them] and it's embroidered on T-shirts."
April 20 is special to marijuana users, Mr. Hearty said. "Everyone has their own strains to sample and they get together and generally have a smoke-out." As to whether it's a social or a political event, he said it's both.
Some people "look forward to spending the day smoking spliffs and enjoying life. Truly, it should be more political," Mr. Hearty said.
But "there's different ways to acknowledge the day. It doesn't matter if you are sitting at home, as long as you're thinking, frame-of-mind-wise, about what's going on and how you can help."
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420 is the penal code number for MJ possession, or use, or something like that in one of the major cities, maybe LA or NYC. That's what the kids always say, but nobody seems to know for sure.
We posted near the same time Charlie, so what I wrote is sort of in line with:
Quote:
Some say it is the number of a police call used in California during the 1960s.
These days '420' is used as a generic way of declaring one likes to use marijuana or just as a term for the substance itself. Its earliest connotation of having to do with the time a certain group of students congregated to smoke wacky tobaccy is unknown to the overwhelming majority of those who now employ the term. Indeed, most instead believe one or more of the many spurious explanations that have since grown up about this much abused short form:
420 is the penal code section for marijuana use in California.
Nope. Section 420 of the California penal code refers to obstructing entry on public land. The penal codes of other states list different entries for 420, but none of them matches anything having to do with marijuana.
It's the Los Angeles or New York police radio code for marijuana smoking in progress.
It's not the police radio code for anything, let alone that.
It's the number of chemical compounds in marijuana.
The number of chemical compounds in marijuana is 315, according to the folks at High Times magazine.
April 20 is the date that Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin died.
Though these performers were strongly identified with drug use during their brief lifetimes and the emerging drug culture after their demises, none of them kicked the bucket on April 20. Morrison died on July 3, Hendrix on September 18, and Joplin on October 4.
The 20th of April is the best time to plant marijuana.
There's no one "best time" -- that answer would change from one part of the country to another, or even one country to another.
Albert Hofmann took the first deliberate LSD trip at 4:20 on 19 April 1943.
This was indeed the case -- his lab notes back this up. But this wasn't the source of "420," just an oddball coincidence. (For the pedants out there, Hofmann's first LSD trip, which was accidental, took place on 16 April 1943.)
It's the code you send to your drug dealer's pager.
Yeah, right. All drug dealers recognize a '420' page as "Please be waiting on the corner with my baggie of wildwood weed."
When the Grateful Dead toured, they always stayed in Room 420.
Untrue, says Grateful Dead Productions spokesman Dennis McNally.
Spurious etymologies and uncertain definition aside, '420' has slipped into a position of semi-respectability within the English lexicon. Various free-wheeling cities annually celebrate "hemp fests" on April 20. There's a 4:20 record label in California, and a band called 4:20. Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Co. sells its 420 Pale Ale in supermarkets and opens its doors to the public at 4:20 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. New York's 420 Tours sells low-cost travel packages to the Netherlands and Jamaica. Highway 420 Radio broadcasts "music for the chemically enhanced." And in 2001, the forReal.org web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Substance Abuse Prevention put out a public service document titled, "It's 4:20 -- Do You Know Where Your Teen Is?"
420s are routinely slipped into popular movies and television shows. In Fast Times at Ridgemont High the score of the football game was 42-0. Most of the clocks in Pulp Fiction are set to 4:20 (but not all -- when the kid receives the watch it's set at 9:00). And there are many other instances, so keep your eyes peeled.
However, as amusing as it is to tie 420 to pot smoking and hunt for it in popular movies, the number has its dark side. Hitler was born on 20 April 1889, and the massacre of 13 victims at Columbine High School in Colorado took place on 20 April 1999.
Barbara "4 and 20 blackbirds" Mikkelson
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The pot smoker's holiday
