420: Help Marijuana Activists Legalize Cannabis On 'National Weed Day'

April 20 may have a reputation as being something of a “high holiday,” but potheads across the country are doing a lot more than just lolling around on the grass smoking joints and taking bong hits in their basements.

“National Weed Day” (started by a group of five stoner California high school friends in 1970), also gives activists the opportunity to stand together and speak out about the complex issues surrounding the legalization of pot.

Mason Tvert, the driving force behind a Colorado campaign to regulate marijuana just like alcohol, is an example of one advocate hoping that weed enthusiasts will use April 20 to broach the more serious side of the cannabis issue, including the ways in which pot laws fail to address drug abuse and addiction and the fact that the government spends billions of dollars to lock up smokers.

“4/20 has become a day when people feel a lot more comfortable talking about marijuana,” Tvert told High Times, “so we’re encouraging our supporters to use the occasion as a way to start a conversation about not just our initiative, but about the issue in general.”

Interested in joining conversation? Read through our slideshow below to learn about the five ways you can support the activists at the forefront of the fight to legalize marijuana.

SLIDESHOW:

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Comments

[hello wild minds]

01:26 PM on 08/08/2012

this will save lives of under cover agents in the war on drugs
hello wild minds

[gregory57]

12:34 AM on 04/24/2012

Educate yourself on the subject of Jury Nullification. It's the key to ending prohibition:

http://jurybox.org/informed/

[Theresa McLaughlin]

09:20 AM on 04/23/2012

It was god who created cannabis hemp and told mankind to use every green herb on earth.
As we have seen, it was god not government, who gave man the herbs to use, And it was government who put Jesus to death.

[dadw5boys]

08:47 PM on 04/21/2012

Will they promise to only drive on the right side of the road and only on 4 lane highways so the rest of us can pass them when they are doing 10 miles and hour while stoned ??????

[Sarah Trickey]

08:39 PM on 04/22/2012

I thought those were the soccer moms trying to drive while screaming at their kids and answering their phones

[EnoughIsTooMuch]

02:23 AM on 04/27/2012

a lot less dangerous than driving after having one for the road, oh but i guess thats legal...

[Dan Crabtree]

04:43 PM on 04/21/2012

Yea dudes I would have joined your protest but man I am flying kinda high right now dudes and cannot walk.. but yea dudes i stand with you for sure dudes,,

[Igotit]

02:03 AM on 04/21/2012

Come on people we have bigger issues in our country than pot legalization. Such as climate change, pollution of our water and air, poverty, homelessnes, crime, guns, greed and I could go on but you get the picture. Get past 4:20 life goes on. I guess what the heck is one more vice. Cosider this, the goverment will tax the hell out of it, someone will figure out how to test for driving while being stoned, it will be controlled like alcohol and tabacco, complete with warning labels, thc levels much like beer, but you will get your wish. If it is to be legal it has to be on the federal level across all states subject to age and driving laws. Getting ticketed while driving will be the same as any DUI and insurance rates will be about the same as SR22. Being I don't smoke what do I care I would only hope your treated like any drunk and stay off the highway. I hear the same crap from all the stoners how safe it is, it doesn't cause cancer, it's medicine, it's natural blah blah blah, oh how it's not addictive.

[Theresa McLaughlin]

09:23 AM on 04/23/2012

people like you are the reason we have all of what you are talking about

[EnoughIsTooMuch]

02:26 AM on 04/27/2012

you must be a drinker then..

[Stevie Ware]

06:17 PM on 04/20/2012

Swimming in the ocean with wild dolphins = illegal. Why? To protect dolphins? No, because it alters human consciousness and is pleasurable. Growing a naturally occurring plant = illegal. Why? To protect humans? No, because it alters human consciousness and is pleasurable. Paying for a sexual experience with a consensual adult = illegal. Why? To protect the moral fabric of society? No, because it alters human consciousness and is pleasurable. Connect the dots people and wake up!

[nothing2fear]

04:13 PM on 04/20/2012

Our nation imprisons more of our citizens than any other nation in the world. As private corporation seek to control this potentially lucrativer business we as a nation have within the penal system 1 in 31 people either in jail, on parol or on probation. This reprisents lote of jobs and money.

30% of those in jail are for drug charges, 12% for marijuana. We ruined lives during Prohbition, we ruined lives under McCarthy Era policies and we are ruining generations of lives which reprisent the tyranny we reserve for those in subcultures the majority (or a minority if they have the power) disagree with, that is what we call freedom in this nation.

[SecularJoe]

01:58 PM on 04/20/2012

In the picture up top the girl's sign reads "Cannabis is Medicine: Let the states regulate."

If it's a medicine wouldn't that mean it would be for the FDA to regulate?

[Belga]

05:27 PM on 04/20/2012

The DEA won't allow it and the FDA doesn't act as if it wants to. This is an old, old Drug War fact based upon the Drug War myth that has pot listed as a Schedule 1 substance. If you don't know what that means or is, I suggest you find out.

[libertony]

06:57 PM on 04/23/2012

The FDA doesn't regulate anything . Have you seen what the drugs they approve do to people? It's worse than what you could get from a 19 th century snake oil salesman.

[Herb Folks]

01:48 PM on 04/20/2012

we beg to differ. NORML does not "lead" the fight to legalize Cannabis, they are all about Marijuana aka Weed. They are in our way, actually, especially in the county formerly known as San Diego. Read up, then come back with a complete story about "marijuana legalization, please? Just sayin', read their literature, talk to them. A lawyer job creation outfit is more accurate.

[Jordan Kratz]

01:40 PM on 04/20/2012

Happy 420 Day to all of you.
We need to start Voting Petitions in each and every State.
We need to sign all Washington Federal Government Petitions
We should have a Million Man March on Washington
We must fight back and make Weed Legal

[babyboomernina]

04:17 PM on 04/20/2012

Us pot smokers ain't gonna be doing no walkin'....we're more the sittin' type....LOL. But we do need to get louder on the legalization movement. Happy 420 Day to you too Jordan, and all the other smokers out there! I would much rather a joint after work than a 'martini' any day...

[nothing2fear]

01:36 PM on 04/20/2012

The madness of a nation in which fictions become citizens, cash become speech and an innocuous plant which was once considered a strategic resource has become outlawed. Placed into the inaccessible position as a class one drug the definition of which hardly fits its reality.

Our nation has too long been under their control of the lunatics and it is time for citizens to reengage their government in order to bring some small sanity back to our nation, our country.

[Stevie Ware]

06:10 PM on 04/20/2012

Amen.

[--Terminus--]

01:30 PM on 04/20/2012

I believe they have skipped one of the most important ways of getting involved....

Puff, Puff... pass

[battlinbob]

01:28 PM on 04/20/2012

#6. Vote fore Ron Paul

[The Iron Rose]

01:41 AM on 04/21/2012

Who doesn't support the legalization of Marijuana.

[Don Cox]

01:22 PM on 04/20/2012

LIBERTARIAN Gary Johnson 2012