4/20: National Pot Smokers Day

April 20 is "National Pot Smoking Day." It's a day where people across the world celebrate in the conspicuous consumption of the magical herb, marijuana. It's an unofficial counterculture holiday that is based on the simple concept of smoking some cannabis and being happy.

The history of its origin is somewhat cloudy. I found some interesting theories into the beginning of this toker's holiday. The most convincing account was recorded in the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to the editor of High Times, Steven Hager, the term "420" originated at San Rafael High School, in 1971, among a group of about a dozen pot-smoking students who called themselves the Waldos. The term was shorthand for the time of day the group would meet, at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur, to smoke pot. Intent on developing their own discreet language, they made 420 a code for a time to get high, and its use spread among members of an entire generation through various vehicles like the music of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Other versions say 420 originated from a police dispatch code that identified pot smokers or that 420 was the number of chemical compounds that are found in pot.

Whatever its true origin may be, 420 Day is now firmly implanted in the marijuana subculture. The true significance of this day, beyond the fact that it brings together people to celebrate the use of marijuana, is that it's a day to explore the meaning of the freedom - or the lack thereof - to indulge in its use. Despite being a popular drug that is enjoyed by millions of Americans, it is still classified as an illegal substance. Penalties range from the stigma of arrest to fines and even imprisonment.

Currently, there is a tremendous amount of activity in the marijuana arena. Many states like New Jersey and Illinois are calling for the legalization of medical marijuana. This was in the wake of a recent policy shift by the Obama administration. It openly called for the limitation of prosecuting sick people who use the drug for medical purposes or to the caregivers that dispense it in states that have passed medical marijuana legislation.

Recently in California, San Francisco lawmaker, Tom Ammiano, introduced a bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. "With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense," Ammiano told reporters. "This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes. California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana."

Advocates point out that thirteen states already regulate medical marijuana. "Marijuana already plays a huge role in the California economy. It's a revenue opportunity we literally can't afford to ignore any longer," said Stephen Gutwillig, California state director for the Drug Policy Alliance. "It's time to end the charade of marijuana prohibition, tax the $14 billion market, and redirect criminal justice resources to matters of real public safety. Assemblyman Ammiano has done the state an enormous service by breaking the silence on this commonsense solution."

On May 2 there will be a worldwide marijuana march that will be held in over 544 cities in 54 nations around the world to celebrate the medicinal value and spiritual benefits of marijuana.

The principal organizer of the event is veteran activist, Dana Beal. He believes that this is a critical year for the cause. Beal is especially concerned about the large amount of pot arrests involving nonviolent citizens who choose to smoke it in the privacy of their own homes. "Criminalizing millions of people - nearly 10 percent of the total US population for smoking a plant is ridiculous" he says. Numerous scientific studies since President Nixon's Shafer Commission have proved this. Beal also believes that the money spent by the criminal justice system to prosecute and jail harmless pot smokers would be better spent on our educational system and health care.

The debate on the legalization of marijuana continues. It's up to the millions of pot smokers across our nation who use 4/20 as a day to light up to get involved in changing the prohibition that ruins so many lives and takes away the legal right to consume what we want in our own bodies, without the threat of governmental interference.

Anthony Papa is the author of 15 To Life and a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance.

Comments

[rockyersocksoff]

I think what HP needs is MORE advertising from the "United Drug Cartels and For-Profit Prisons", errr I mean the "Partnership For A Drug-Free America."

[gustafson]

MAKE IT LEGAL, STOP THE DRUG WAR MADNESS!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!! ( and besides it is not working and this counrty is wasting its resources and time trying to fight something a vast majority enjoy and do!!!)

[IslandTom]

Sorry to have missed it by being out of the country. I'll have to have my own little day when I return next week. Legalize it!

[zitlight73]

One of the top twenty censored stories of 2007 was the record number of arrests for mere possession. A lot of this is due to the privatization of our prison system and corrupt politicians who are paid off by these correction companies. Piss testing alone is now a billion dollar business. But the biggest obstacle to legalization of pot is from the big drug companies who do not want to see people growing their own medicine.

[theratt]

To the origin of "420" - why would a group of high school stoners still be at school at 4:20?

[midpointpolitico]

They weren't motivated to go home. LOL

[me4you]

weed IS NOT addictive talk your points here when you actually have something of truth to share, until then Bye bye

[jesuslovesObama]

According to the other article, they were athletes and met at the school statue after practice, at 4:20.

[midpointpolitico]

Hmm - you need to smoke pot to be happy? I don't. Pot is smoked for its spiritual benefits? If you need to smoke a drug to get spiritual benefits, you aren't spiritual you are a drug abuser. Spirituality comes from within not from an outside source. The stigma is not from the arrests connected to pot use but from the pot use itself. Only the weak need to change their reality and then celebrate it. Perhaps behaving like 99.9% of the rest of the world will help you find the peace you seek.

Don't forget that when all that tax money comes in to California to put 75% of it aside for Addiction Treatment because the state will need it. The Gambling Industry in most states are required to contribute to the Addiction Treatment system in the states where gambling is legal. Currently the Alcohol industry is resisting all attempts to raise their taxes even a nickle a drink - so what makes you think that the Marijuana growers will be any more amenable?

Just read an NIH study that confirms that Marijuana use among teens slows down their brain development. Is this what you want for our future? Or do you just want the right to be an addict without consequence?

[ldavis24]

calling someone who smokes weed an "addict" just highlights your extreme ignorance of the entire issue. Thanks though, for making it blatantly clear to the rest of us how little you care to learn about the subject....You seem like a grumpy old person to me...I could be wrong though.

[VinceTeeter]

Well, that's sort of like saying religion is not addictive. To some people, pot can be as addictive as religion, or some other dogma, and to others, they can take it or leave it. It is very different from tobacco which does almost nothing for you until you are hooked, and then it creates absolute havoc when you try to get off of it. Marijuana and many other drugs are just the witches of the 21st century. When we stop burning them at the stake, they will cease to exist.

[midpointpolitico]

You are wrong my friend on all counts. Not everybody who smokes weed is an addict any more than everybody who drinks is an alcoholic. However a person who needs a drug to do for them what they could do for themselves is and abuser. I did not use the word addict.

[typhanie]

I can tell you believed everything you were told when you were young. There are a couple of websites you need to read to get you up to speed with the conversation, just look at the other articles to get those.O by the way there is even an article written by an actually former police officer you should check out. Just trying to help you get some correct information on the topic and even some statistics

[midpointpolitico]

Guess what, I can match you article for article and stat for stat. perhaps I can send you my information so you can speak intelligently not from propoganda. Just trying to help you get some correct information on the topic and even some viable statistics.

[loganhunter]

Marijuana has never been proven to be addictive.
The problem with Government sponsored NIDA , ONDCP studies is that they hide results they don't want the public to know.
Such as the studies that confirm marijuana helps protect the lungs from cancer instead of causing it --a study by the DEA's Dr Tashkin , Lung specialist from UCLA. As soon as he came out with the results the DEA and ONDCP did everything they could to hush the results and said his study wasn't scentific and STILL promoted the propoganda "it causes cancer because ther are 400 known carcinogens in marijuana."
Or the fact that the DARE program actually introduces kids to really addictive drugs like heroin, now this IS a gateway , yet they keep pushing the DARE program. Read the study by the GAO.
Studies from other countries confirm that legalizing marijuana did not raise the use in the Netherlands, yet the DEA and ONDCP insists still that it did...they lie.

The DEA is STILL continuing to block any other University researchers from studying the effects of marijuana on the human body in depth ....wonder why they'd continue to do that? They are acting like it's as dangerous as a nuclear bomb, something reeks of BS here.

[midpointpolitico]

You know the DEA and the government are blocking studies how? What is your evidence, urban legend?

[loganhunter]

Nope no one needs to smoke pot to be happy ..but it sure is fun. Yes people smoke it for spiritual benefits Catholics drink alcohol during mass and have rituals using holy smoke water and the like...suddenly you have a problem simply because it's marijuana?

There is absolutely no proof what-so-ever that marijuana is addictive.

[midpointpolitico]

Ah but there is - you don't know about them because you are stuck back in the '60s and '70's when there wasn't the enhanced marijuana we have today. This is a whole different ball game. Denial is a wonderful defense mechanism but it doesn't serve the greater good.

[Conservative1A]

I've heard a lot of people talking about the money being made by for profit prisons but there is another indusrty out there that will fight legalizing Marijuana tooth and nail. The drug testing industry. I remember back when this started and all you heard about was that they were going to test train engineers, airline pilots and hazardous waste truck drivers. Last summer my 16 year old went to the local grocery store to get a job sacking. Guess what? Drug testing mandatory for the job! Make no mistake this is a huge industry that would HATE to see Maraijuana legalized.

[Mike Bradley]

I was a beer can jock, and really went about pulverizing my body to the extent that medicimal marijuana is about the safest thing I'll be able to take to stave off the arthritus.

[420]

just a thought. Pot does not stay on clothes or hang like cigarettes. I run 5 miles a day, and pt has zero effect on my performance. The days i smoked cigarettes, my clothes stunk, the walls in my house were yellow, and my car was an ash tray. It might have something to do with pot being a natural product vs a chemical laced cigarette.

[me4you]

Thank you for being born with a brain, and knowing how to make a statement which makes sense

[cboo2009]

marijuana should never be legalized not now or in the future

[BlazeKING]

Go back to teabagging.

[bushfocker]

We can not call America the Land of the Free, until we are FREE!!

[Kaviraj]

Responsibility is the only key to freedom

[Nicon]

between 10 and 15,000 people showed up to celebrate in Bolder Colorado today, as every year was wonderfully relaxing and peaceful.

See you next year.

[OldTiredSarge]

So the reefer madness beat the tea-bagging. Who would have thought?

[Nicon]

that is what i am naming the footage on youtube., or some such.

[typhanie]

It's my Birthday and I didn't even no it was a National Holiday. I will have to celebrate properly next year :)

[hrholmes]

I was stoned and I missed it - Dr Hook

[senorlou]

Marijuana is truly a miracle. Enjoy, and happy 4/20 everybody.

[SeaBlood]

I say legalize the stuff! When smokers are no longer outlaws, the major reason for smoking pot will be gone----pot smokers love to think of themselves as "bad boys" who are brave enough to defy society, as non-conformists. It's the only kick they get out of it. Pot, itself, gives the worst, wimpiest ''high'', not enough to justify ruining your lungs for. So, smoke all you want folks----that is, if your job allows it, and doesn't require a urine test.

[StanlyManly]

I agree. Legalizing is the only thing that makes sense. The crime, and subsequent punishment, related to pot is undeniably ludicrous. I personally don't smoke, but I certainly feel that any adult should be able to choose for themselves.

The fact of this matter is simple, law or no law, pot is still smoked in vast quantities. The "war on drugs" has done nothing more than create crime.

Legalize it all. Regulate it, tax it, whatever... just dont send people to jail for recreation.

[matt18e]

That's ridiculous! Most pot smokers I know don't like to think of themselves as "bad boys", they just like the buzz. As far as the worst and wimpiest buzz, that is really a matter of personal opinion. If you are worried about ruining your lungs, then make brownies.

[HummusGringo]

Ummm... 'worst, wimpiest high'? Haven't smoked in years, but have you ever been to the Pacific NW? It's incredible. Not wimpy, not by a stretch. A toke'll do ya.

It was actually too powerful for me back in the day, and unpredictably so. No long term damage of any kind, and I don't regret it, but I've moved on. I've gotten the 'fear' before, just due to the sheer, bloody awesomeness of a soaring high, but other than that... nothing.

I'm all in favor of legalization. It only makes sense. This senseless drug war must end. How can we profess to be 'free' if we're afraid of an ancient plant? Come on... don't smoke it if you don't want to. Make shirts out it. I don't care. But, like all plants, it should be free for free humans to use at their discretion, because, come on, let's be honest: they're going to anyway if they want to badly enough.

[loganhunter]

"pot smokers love to think of themselves as "bad boys" who are brave enough to defy society, as non-conformists. It's the only kick they get out of it."

Speak for yourself fool.