420 enthusiasts to honor cannabis on high holiday aPRIL 20, 2006 - The Post Online
EDITOR???S NOTE: Marijuana smokers in this story are referred to on a first-name basis to protect their privacy.
April 20 is an infamous date. Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 on this date. The tragic 1999 Columbine High School massacre occurred on April 20 as well. April 20, better known as 420, also is a day of celebration for marijuana enthusiasts.
There are many myths behind the origins of 420. A popular myth is that 420 came about because the police code for marijuana possession was 420.
OU student Ben, who goes by his middle name, believes 420 comes from the approximately 420 natural chemicals found in the cannabis plant. He doesn???t know exactly when the term 420 came into use, but his parents didn???t know about the significance of this number when they were in college, he said.
420 originated in the early 1970s by a group of students, known as ???the Waldos,??? at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, Calif., said Steve Bloom, editor at large of High Times magazine. The Waldos coined the term because they would get together after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana, and they could openly talk about 420 without anyone knowing what it meant.
High Times originally published an article in the May 1991 issue about the rumored 420 police code, Bloom said. When Steve Hager, head editor at High Times, received an e-mail from a member of the Waldos in the late 1990s, the magazine discovered the real story, complete with 420-related documents and posters to prove it.
420 didn???t catch on until the late 1980s when it began as underground term circulating around Grateful Dead fans, also headquartered in San Rafael. The term began to catch on with High Times readers in the late ???90s after Hager???s correction of the previous story ran in the magazine in 1998. It eventually came into use in popular culture, Bloom said.
Many OU students participate in the use of marijuana, also known as pot, bud, weed, dope, Mary Jane and many other nicknames. Dave, an OU student, said he smokes about twice a day. He and his three roommates go through about an eighth of an ounce of marijuana every four to five days. He enjoys smoking marijuana because it does the same thing to him as drinking, but it is a lot easier than alcohol. It is also a relaxant, he said.
Dave plans to spend his 420 smoking a bowl of weed or bud, his favorite nicknames of marijuana, after class and continuing to smoke all night instead of partying, he said. A lot of his friends enjoy the ???wake and bake??? method on 420, smoking as soon as they wake up and continuing to do so throughout the day.
Julie, an OU student, and her friends will celebrate 420 this year by hosting a ???pot luck,??? where everyone brings his or her own marijuana to smoke, she said. She and her friends don???t really have many other traditions besides getting a small group together and smoking at the traditional time of 4:20 p.m. She also mentioned that a lot of people go to Bong Hill to lie around and chill out.
???It???s almost like 420 for marijuana lovers is like St. Patty???s Day for Irish people,??? Julie said. ???It???s just another reason to smoke.???
Ben, who deals marijuana, enjoys selling it because he enjoys running his own business, and he makes a lot of money. He also likes the taste of marijuana and being high.
???I love everything about it,??? he said.
Ben, also known to his friends as Dank Man, doesn???t plan to do anything out of the ordinary to celebrate 420. In the past he???s partied and smoked all day, he said. A lot of hard-core 420 participants celebrate by staying up all night just to make it to 4:20 a.m. to smoke, he said. He does not expect to sell more on 420 than usual, because his customers usually pick up small amounts at a time.
Ben credits 420 with meeting his best high school friends. His freshman year in high school a friend had a party at a cabin to celebrate 420. There he met all of his good friends, whom he kept throughout high school, he said.
Garret, an Athens resident, smokes ???the kat,??? his favorite nickname for marijuana, daily, he said. He doesn???t plan to do anything too different from his normal marijuana usage on 420, although many people do. He enjoys smoking ???the kat??? because it is his way of kicking back and relaxing, he said. He believes people smoke on 420 ???just because it???s 420, man.???
In honor of 420, the Import House, 68 N. Court St., will host its annual 420 sale. Everything in the store will be 20 percent off its regular price for Thursday only.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws will host its annual convention this weekend in San Francisco Thursday through Saturday. The group always tries to have it on the 420 weekend whenever possible because it???s a culture holiday for the movement, said representative Karen Malovrh. More than 80 speakers and panelists will talk at this event, including Tommy Chong, who will show his newest documentary, ???A/k/a Tommy Chong.???
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