420: A Mythos...
"ORIGINS (?):
* Police dispatch code for smoking pot is 420.
* There are approximately 420 active chemicals in marijuana.
* April 20th is National Pot Smokers Day.
* April 20th is Hitler's birthday.
* April 20th is the date of the Columbine school shootings.
* 4:20 is tea time for pot-smokers in Holland.
TRUTHS (?):
The number 420 is not police radio code for anything, anywhere. Checks of criminal codes suggest that the origin is neither Californian nor federal. For instance, California Penal Code 420 defines as a misdemeanor the hindrance of use of public lands.
Actually, there are approximately 315 active chemicals in marijuana. This number goes up and down depending on which plant is used.
Well, it is now; but that wasn't the origin.
Yes, it is his birthday. But, as 420 started out as a time, not a date, his birthday had nothing to do with it.
This happened after the term was already in use.
Tea time in Holland is at 5:30 pm, or is it 2:30 pm? Seems no one is quite sure when the wonderful people of Holland drink their tea.
REVELATION (?):
According to Steven Hager, editor of High Times, the term 420 originated at San Rafael High School, in 1971, among a group of about a dozen pot-smoking wiseacres who called themselves the Waldos, who are now pushing 50. 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 code for a time to get high, and its use spread among members of an entire generation. While our teens feel that they know something we don't, you can let them in on the fact that it was your generation that came up with the numbers.
A quote from one of the Waldos in the High Times article states, "We did discover we could talk about getting high in front of our parents without them knowing by using the phrase 420." Fortunately, your teenagers will not have that same option.
...
this "holiday" as it has become, seems to become increasingly stupid as the years pass. as a kid, it was fun. as a high-schooler it was funny. now, it seems as if id be playing into a stereotype if i wanted to go "get blazed" at 4:20 (am or pm, your pick) on april 20th. it has become such a HUGE fucking deal that kids freak out about going to school on this day. people are pissed they have to work on this day. well, i had the day off. fuck you. im actually reasonably sober, so this is the first chance in-... oh-... eight or so years ive had the clear eyes to examine and truly think about how fucking ridiculous all of this is. i smoked weed at 4:20 daily-... not really on purpose. i just happened to have a pipe to my lips at the time. ive also smoked at 2:00, 3:42, 8:28, 11:00, 1:01 (aww, dalmatians)... the number of "times" ive toked up is endless. is funny to think that i was dumb enough to get excited about smoking on ONE DAY in the past. hahah. looking back on it, the day, the time-... it was always fun, but so was the next day and the next. there were also very depressing days-... and not cause i couldnt find weed. today has been so hyped up that television stations and newspapers and even schools are giving it credit (not necessarily good, but still-... no such thing as bad publicity). i have nothing against pot smoking, as youll know if youve EVER fucking met me, but its becoming bothersome (maybe its just me) that people get so over-worked about this one day. what happened to smoking to just relax, or, fuck, ill say it-... "chill". sorry, i have a job now, and my recent lack of "hanging" with the "stoners" has caused my "street lingo" to deteriorate over time. smoking today is fine, really-... but i know there are some kids that are doing it just so at school on monday they can say "dude, guess what i did on 420! GOT FUCKIN' BLAZED!" "really man?! ME TOO!!"... and then they will fit in or some shit like that. i guess posting online wont really effect anyones outlook on today, or the time-... but looking at it, and how some people get so fucking serious over it is kind of sad. i hope everyone had a nice "holiday". hope everyone got "stoned" and "ripped" and "toked"-... shit, i hope some of you even passed out, though in all my pot-smoking experience and the immense amounts ive smoked at once, ive yet to experience this... i know its possible, but i dont imagine itd be much fun laying on the ground, asleep while your friends laugh about nothing. if you didnt smoke anything other than a cigarette like me, cool. either way, please stop hyping today up-... cause it really makes the stoner stereotypes true. i know youre not all stoners and i know some of you dont smoke, but not EVERY stoner is the slack-jawed, smelly, lazy, stupid fuckwit theyre commonly portrayed as.
im gonna go drink myself to sleep later, 420.