420 (cannabis culture)

4:20 or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is a term used in North America to refer to the consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with the drug subculture around cannabis.

Origins and observances

Although there are many explanations for the origin of the term, one stems from a story about a group of teenagers and luke at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California in 1971. The teens would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the Louis Pasteur statue. [cite web
title = 420 (Language)
work = Snopes.com - Urban Legends Reference Pages
date = 2005-04-19
url = http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.asp
accessdate = 2007-03-30 ] The term became part of their group's salute, "420 Louis!", [cite web
title = Stoner Chic Traces Origin To San Rafael: Snickering high schoolers brought '420' into lexicon
author = Maria Alicia Gaura
work = San Francisco Chronicle
date = 2000-04-20
url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/04/20/MN101165.DTL
accessdate = 2007-04-20 ] and became popularized in the late 1980s by fans of the Grateful Dead. [cite web
title = '420' enthusiasts honor cannabis on high holiday
work = cbs5.com
year = 2007
url = http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_110193512.html
accessdate = 2007-04-20 ] By extension April 20 ("4/20" in U.S. dating shorthand) has evolved into a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis. [ [http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/April/24/local/stories/08local.htm Thousands at UCSC burn one to mark cannabis holiday] ] In some locations this celebration coincides with Earth Week. [ [http://www.guamepa.govguam.net/earthweek/ Earth Week in Guam] ] [ [http://earthweek.ucsd.edu/index.html Earth Week in San Diego] ] [ [http://www.earthwalkvictoria.ca/ Earth Week in Victora, BC] ] In Dunedin, New Zealand, students at the University of Otago and other cannabis law reform activists meet under a walnut tree on the Otago University Union Lawn on Wednesdays and Fridays at 4:20pm to openly smoke cannabis in public in what they call an 'act of protest'. [cite web|title=Dope Heads on Campus|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/1256786|date=July 27, 2007|work=TV One Close Up|accessdate=2008-10-06] [cite web|title=Otepoti Overgrown: Cannabis Culture in Dunedin|url=http://www.critic.co.nz/about/features/112|date=April 29, 2008|work=Critic Te Arohi Magazine|accessdate=2008-10-05] [cite web|title=420 Protest|url=http://www.ch9.co.nz/node/7704|date=February 22, work=Channel 9 News Dunedin|accessdate=2008-10-07]

References in popular culture

to celebrate Victoria's 10th annual 4/20 celebration. Victoria police were not visibly in attendance [Citation
last = Lavigne Luke is the shit
first = Andrea
title = Celebration up in smoke: Pot supporters celebrate 10th anniversary
newspaper = Victoria News
year = 2007
date = April 25th, 2007
url = http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v07/n525/a08.html]
* Phrases such as "420 friendly" sometimes appear in roommate advertisements, indicating that the current occupants are tolerant of cannabis users. [ [http://www.marijuana-seeds-online.com/improve-your-pothead-vocabulary.html Improve your Pot head Vocabulary - 420 friendly] ] [cite web
title = Boulder Renters Seek Pot-Smoking Roommates: Boulder Still a Bastion of Hippies and Radicals, Apparently
work = New West (Living section) - The Voice of the Rocky Mountains
date = 2006-05-08
url = http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/boulder_still_a_bastion_of_hippies_and_radicals_apparently/C82/L40/
accessdate = 2007-03-30] That phrase is also used in personal ads to denote the same association.

* "420" is the title of a comic book series featuring the alternative superhero Captain Cannabis. [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0973883707 Captain Cannabis comic book] ] [High Times Magazine, February 2007, The Buzz section page 13, "Sensi Superman"] [Skunk Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 8, Cool Stuff section, "420 Verne Signature Series"] [QsHouse Radio/iPod [http://qshouse.slackertown.com/wp-media/VerneAndruFull.mp3 Interview - Verne Andru: the George Lucas of the comic world] ]
* Noting that "the national weed smoking day is 4/20," rapper Method Man named his 2006 album "". [cite news |title = New Method Man Album 4:21...The Day After
url = http://www.sixshot.com/articles/6239/
publisher = Sixshot
accessdate = 2007-04-19]

420 is the name of an amber ale produced by Sweetwater Brewing Company in Atlanta, GA.

See also

*Spiritual use of cannabis
*CA Senate Bill 420

Sources