The haze finally cleared about marijuana-related 420 By: Jason DeThomas UNC Connection April 14, 2008

This Sunday is April 20th. That means celebration for pot-smokers around the world. The only problem is that no one really knows where 420 came from or why its celebrated. So I tracked it down. The background of 420 is that it began as a covert pot-smoking term. It was used only in referring to marijuana, smoking, or communicating in general about the less-than-permissible behavior. In general, those that didnt smoke pot didnt know the term. Nowadays, everyone knows it. It has turned into a tool of capitalism and is used to sell t-shirts. And hats, and clocks, and incense, and jeans, and backpacks, and wallets andI could go on. The point it that now everyone knows the term, and it has turned 420 into a global smoke-fest. Somewhat locally, in Boulder, people have gathered for years on 4/20 in Farrand Field to smoke in celebration. Police response has been varied, according to the dailycameras website. In 2007 they ticketed six out of 3,000 people. In 2006 they took pictures and posted 150 online, offering $50 bucks to anyone who could identify them. Those identified were ticked with drug charges and trespassing on Farrand Field, which was closed. In 2005 they closed the field for the first time and when some ignored it, they turned on the sprinklers. Before that, they did nothing really. It remains to be seen what will happen this year. Worldwide, pro-hemp and pro-marijuana events are held on April 20th. Worldwide, tokers gather at 4:20 pm to share a spliff, blunt, or bong bowl. And worldwide, very few people know where the term theyre celebrating even came from. There are countless myths surrounding the origins of the 420 marijuana madness holiday. Some of them are, at first glance, based in fact. Others are completely off the mark. In sifting through the haze surrounding the formation of this holiday, I uncovered a stash of different stories. One of the stories suggests that 420 is a penal code for the possession or use of marijuana. This is not true. According to Shawn Hubler of the Los Angeles Times and Steven Hager, editor of High Times Magazine, there is no relation to 420 and any penal code used in the U.S. California does have a code 420, but it is the hindrance of use of public lands. California also passed Senate Bill 420, which allows certified patients to have a certain amount of medical marijuana, but this was after the term had already been in use. Some even suggest that 420 might have played a part in the naming of the bill. Another story was that there are 420 active chemicals in marijuana. Again, the smoke must be clouding someones vision. About.com in their parenting adolescents section declares that there are only 315 active chemicals. This claim is also supported by Hubler and Hager. Still a third possible source comes from music. The Grateful Dead were supposed to have stayed in hotel room 420 whenever they toured. According to Hubler, in 1991, High Times magazine, a staunch promoter of the 420 phenomenon, published an item on a flier that a staffer found circulating at a Grateful Dead concert in Oakland: WAKE 'N' BAKE. Smoke Pot At 4:20, the flier reportedly said. Perhaps there is a connection between the flyer and the rumor of the Grateful Dead staying in room 420? Hubler reports that they didnt stay in room 420, according to Grateful Dead spokesperson Dennis McNally. 420 is the tea-time of pot-smokers in Holland. Not true. 420 is the date of the Columbine shootings in 1999. This is true, but 420 was in use before this event and they are unrelated. 420 is the date of Hitlers birthday. This is also true, but also unrelated.

And despite all these crazy guesses, the true story is so ordinary as to be somewhat disappointing. In 1971, a group of friends calling themselves the Waldos simply made it up. Corroborated by both Hubler and Hager, apparently the friends had another friend who had heard of a weed patch in the hills of Marin County. During those days at San Rafael High School, the Waldos planned to meet at a statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20 pm. This was the most reasonable time for everyone to meet after school, to hunt for the hidden weed patch. However, as one of the Waldos told Hubler, they never found the patch. What they did do was get high a lot and drive around. They have proof, in the form of letters and postcards, indicating that they coined the term. And that was it. From there it passed to younger siblings and friends, who kept it in the weed culture. Eventually, other people began to learn about it and it became the global hullabaloo that it is today. Some think that its far too mainstream now and that the original idea of 420 has passed away. It used to be a secretone shared only by compatriot smokers. It was a cult classic iconall clocks but one in Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction are set to 4:20. Now its on T-shirts at Spencers, hats in mid-mall vender shops, and posters everywhere. Others, however, see it simply as the development of pot-smoking from a cloak-and-dagger operation into an accepted part of popular culture. Hubler interviewed Alvera Stern, who works for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. She heads the federal division of prevention, application and education. Hubler writes The 420 icon is very well recognized in the subculture of marijuana users, and now it is being used very skillfully to brand, said Stern. If even the government recognizes 420 as being related to pot, then how could regular citizens not see the connection? The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) also recognizes the number. It announced in 2001 that 4/20 was the pot-smokers New Year and that their national conferences would be held on April 20th at 4:20 pm. 420 has also been picked up by beer-makers, website and product promoters, and travel agencies, eager to get on the band-wagon. High Times even started 420.com in 1997, to promote the grandmaster of all holidays according to their website. The Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education office (DATE) had little to say on the subject. They only indicated that they had no policies designed to deal with 420, no plans for the day itself, and their only involvement with the drug aspect of 420 was through the FOCUS Seminars. The UNCPD was unavailable for comment. Despite the inauspicious beginnings of 420, the celebration itself has grown into a global endeavor. It has become a day of joy, celebration and, of course, heavy Visine use and Taco-Bell consumption. At least now, the origins of 420 are revealed to the masses and the smoke has cleared. Go 420.* *(Changed by editor to my usual "Go Bears.")