Weed.
Let me be perfectly clear. I do not smoke marijuana or take any drugs, other than medications that have been legally prescribed by a physician for a legitimate purpose.
That is not to say that I haven’t smoked it before. In fact, a few times in my early life, I gave pot a try. But it always made me very hungry and very sleepy. For me, it did not hold any charm.
Yet here it is 4/20. And most people know, 420 is the numeric expression for weed. This has become a day when tens of thousands of Americans gather around the country to celebrate a drug that remains mostly illegal in the United States. Good old marijuana.
If I were them, I would have picked a different date. When I think of April 20, I think of Adolph Hitler, as it is his birthday.
But, this day is cherished by pot smokers around the world as a reason to fire up a joint and smoke away with friends and anyone else who will join in. We may not see it so much in Ohio, but major rallies occur across the country, mostly in places like Colorado, California, and the other 15 states where marijuana has been legalized.
The more pot gathers support for legalization, the more those festivities have been cropping up. Marijuana has shifted more into the mainstream, and as such, is being more commercialized.
I know someone who works at a store that sells a lot of marijuana paraphernalia, especially “water pipes.” In most circles, they are better known as bongs. She says April 20 is their busiest day of the year. Their Black Friday, their day before Christmas.
Since growing as a legalized substance, marijuana businesses are looking to leverage the holiday to find more ways to sell and market their products. This has given the current trend of “acceptance” a sharp contrast to the days of old. The “holiday” used to be followed only by a counterculture movement.
In a recent news segment on CBS Mornings, they went around NYC and asked people if they smoked pot. Many were reluctant to admit it, even though it has been legalized in New York. Most of the people then went on to say there is still a “stigma” attached to using weed.
But let’s get back to the date. Why April 20? There are a few possible explanations for this, but the real origin remains a bit of a mystery.
One theory suggests that the holiday started because of a ritual among a group of high school students in the 1970s — in California. The story goes like this. It seems, for some reason, those teenagers ritualistically smoked marijuana every day at 4:20 pm. As such, they gave pot the code 420. And from there, it morphed into the date 4/20. But, there isn’t really any hard-core evidence on this one. A story.
Another common belief is that 420 was the California police code for marijuana. There’s no evidence to support those claims, and I’d say the theory is a bust.
Most of the other postulations are full of bunk too. One says there are 420 active chemicals in marijuana. But it just isn’t so. There are more than 500 components in marijuana.
Another states that 4/20 commemorates the death date of Bob Marley. Nope again. He died on 5/11/1981. He wasn’t born on the date either. He came here on February 6, 1945.
My personal theory is that people used to ask dealers how much pot they could get for $20. They would say, “How much for twenty?” For twenty. 420.
And I’m sticking by this one. I’d even bet $20 on it.
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“Federal and state laws (should) be changed to no longer make it a crime to possess marijuana for private use.”
― Richard Nixon
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“She was starting to think that it might be fun to be in control of the universe.”
― Nicki Elson, Three Daves
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“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
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Do you smoke pot? Fess up. Or not.
