But First…
If you have ever read 🤓 any of my blogs 📰 you know I reference 📝 National Today a lot 😁 I suggest you check ✅ them out for yourself ❣️ They have a plethora 🌌 of information beyond what I report 🕵🏽♀️
For 4️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ here’s what NT says 🗣
420, as the name implies, is celebrated annually on April 20. It is an international 🌍 celebration during which people come together ☮️ to consume cannabis 🌿 and advocate for its legalization 👩🏽⚖️
Cannabis is widely acknowledged to be a simple plant🪴 that has complex effects on the human body 🩺 The plant contains chemicals ⚗️ known as cannabinoids 😍
Those that campaign for cannabis to be more widely accepted and available point towards research 📊 that suggests some of these cannabinoids, such as CBD 💊 have valuable therapeutic effects 🙃 on people experiencing chronic pain 🆘 or undergoing chemotherapy
420 FAQs❓
What is the meaning behind 420? 🤔
420 is synonymous with cannabis culture & the events and discussions held on April 20 have become a call to action, with many advocating for the legalization of cannabis products.
What is CBD? 🌻
CBD is a cannabinoid derived from hemp. Research carried out so far suggests that it is a non-addictive product & does not make you high. CBD is often used to help address anxiety, insomnia, or chronic pain.
How do I know if medicinal cannabis is the right option for me? 👩🏽⚕️
Every case should be treated on its individual merits. You should consult a qualified professional with your symptoms and make an informed decision based on the information that is given to you.
420 Activities 🎉
- Conduct research You can find a wealth of knowledge online about cannabis products. 420 is a great opportunity for you to do some independent research into the various products that are available, what the medical professionals & scientists are recommending, and which products could have the most positive impact on your overall well-being.
- Be fully aware Reputable dispensaries, which can be found in a number of US States, will always be transparent about the common signs & symptoms to look out for in case of potential drug abuse. Be aware of the symptoms & contact relevant authorities if you think you may have a substance abuse problem.
- Have fun, be responsible 420 is, of course, famous for people enjoying cannabis products. It’s an upbeat celebration synonymous with fun and it’s known for people being vocal on a topic that they believe in. Enjoy the celebrations, but do so responsibly and be sure to abide by the specific laws of wherever you are located.
6️⃣ Facts About Cannabis 🔎
- Cannabis contains more than 500 compounds These include terpenoids, flavonoids, and cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are compounds that are unique to cannabis. The most well-known cannabinoids are delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) — these are the main two that are used in medicine and THC also produces the “high” that cannabis is associated with.
- Common consumption methods The three most common methods of consumption are ingesting, inhaling, and topical treatment (applying products to your skin). Depending on where you live, edibles, vapes, and oils are among the many cannabis products now legally available from reputable dispensaries.
- Conclusive evidence The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine state that there is conclusive evidence that cannabinoids can help manage chronic pain in adults, nausea that arises because of chemotherapy, and some symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
- Two million patients Data from May 2018 shows that there are over 2 million legal medical marijuana patients in the U.S. The same data suggests that the number would be 3.5 million if medical marijuana was legal in all 50 states.
- Humans have receptors Chemicals in marijuana connect with specific parts of the brain, which are known as receptors. Scientists have identified cells in our brains and immune systems that have cannabinoid receptors.
- A legal battle According to the Last Prisoner Project, 40,000 people are currently in prison in the U.S. for cannabis-related offenses that are now legal. It is the mission of many to redress the past through legal intervention and legislative advocacy.
And Now…
The Real Reason We Associate 420 With Weed
According to Time 💯
Both marijuana smokers 🚬 & non-smokers recognize April 20 or 4/20 as a national holiday 🥳 for cannabis culture ✌🏽 but few actually know how the date got chosen 🤯
Some say “420” is code among police officers 👮🏽♀️ for “marijuana smoking in progress.” Some note 4/20 is also Adolf Hitler’s 🤮 birthday. And some go as far as to cite Bob Dylan’s song 🎼 “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” because 12 multiplied by 35 equals 420 🤔
But, to put it bluntly [see what they did there? 🤣] those rumors of the history behind how April 20, and 4/20, got associated with marijuana are false 🙅🏽
The most credible story traces 4/20 to Marin County, Calif. In 1971, 5️⃣ students at San Rafael High School 🏫 would meet at 4:20 p.m. by the campus’ statue of chemist Louis Pasteur to partake 🌌 They chose that specific time ⌚️ because extracurricular activities had usually ended by then 😯
This group — Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich — became known as the “Waldos” because they met at a wall 🧱 They would say “4️⃣2️⃣0️⃣” to each other as code for marijuana 🌿
As Reddix told TIME in 2017, “We got tired of the Friday-night football 🏈 scene with all of the jocks ⛹🏽♀️ We were the guys sitting under the stands smoking a doobie 🚬 wondering what we were doing there.” 🤭
The shenanigans continued long after 4:20 p.m., too❣️ The group challenged each other to find ever-more-interesting things to do under the influence 🤪 calling their adventures “safaris.” 🙈
Later, Reddix’s brother helped him get work with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh 🎸 as a roadie, so the band is said to have helped popularize 🫂 the term “420.”
On Dec. 28, 1990, a group of Deadheads in Oakland handed out flyers 📜 that invited people to smoke “420” on April 20 at 4:20 p.m. 🎊 One ended up with Steve Bloom, a former reporter for High Times magazine, 📰 an authority on cannabis culture ☯️
The magazine printed the flyer in 1️⃣9️⃣9️⃣1️⃣ & continued to reference the number #️⃣ Soon, it became known worldwide 🌍 as code for marijuana. In 1998, the outlet acknowledged 💯 the “Waldos” were the “inventors” of 420.
Bloom, now the publisher 🧑🏼💼 of Celebstoner.com, has credited the people who wrote ✒️ the flyer for the date’s reputation as an annual 📅 gathering of pot smokers. “They wanted people all over the world to get together 🫂 on one day each year & collectively 🤝 smoke pot at the same time,” he wrote in 2015. “They birthed the idea of a stoner holiday, which April 20 has become.” 🥳
International Day for Cannabis-Related Protests & Events 🙆🏽♂️
Wikipedia says
April 20 has become an international counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate & consume cannabis. Many such events have a political nature to them, advocating the liberalization and legalization of cannabis. Vivian McPeak, a founder of Seattle’s Hempfest states that 4/20 is “half celebration and half call to action”. Paul Birch calls it a global movement and suggests that one cannot stop events like these.
On that day many marijuana users protest in civil disobedience by gathering in public to smoke at 4:20 pm.
As marijuana continues to be decriminalized & legalized around the world, Steve DeAngelo, cannabis activist and founder of California’s Harborside Health Center, notes that “even if our activist work were complete, 420 morphs from a statement of conscience to a celebration of acceptance, a celebration of victory, a celebration of our amazing connection with this plant” and that he thinks that “it will always be worthy of celebration”.
And Finally…
4/20, The Marijuana Holiday, Explained 💗
By German Lopez @germanrlopez german.lopez@vox.com Updated Apr 20, 2021, 9:10am EDT
It’s 4/20, the day tens of thousands of Americans gather around the country to celebrate a drug that remains illegal in the US: marijuana.
April 20 (or 4/20) is cherished by pot smokers around the world as a reason to toke up with friends and massive crowds each year. Major rallies occur across the country, particularly in places like Colorado, California, and 15 other states where marijuana has been legalized.
But as support for marijuana legalization grows, the festivities are becoming more mainstream and commercialized. As a result, marijuana businesses are looking to leverage the holiday to find more ways to sell and market their products. This puts 4/20’s current iteration in sharp contrast to the holiday once embraced by a counterculture movement largely made up of hippies and others who decried greed, corporate influences, and all things mainstream. And that tells us a lot about how cannabis is changing in America as marijuana is legalized.
What is 4/20? And why is it on April 20? 🤔
One common belief is that 420 was the California police or penal code for marijuana, but there’s no evidence to support those claims.
Another theory is that there are 420 active chemicals in marijuana, hence an obvious connection between the drug and the number. But that’s not quite true either, with nearly 500 such components in marijuana.
A lesser-known possibility comes from the 1939 short story “In the Walls of Eryx” by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth Sterling. The story describes “curious mirage-plants” that seemed fairly similar to marijuana and appeared to get the narrator high at, according to his watch, around 4:20. Since the story is from 1939, it’s perhaps the earliest written link between marijuana and 420.
Whatever its origins, 4/20 has become a massive holiday for cannabis aficionados.
4/20 is becoming a commercial event 🤑
Originally 4/20 was a counterculture holiday to protest, at least in part, the social and legal stigmas against marijuana. Marijuana legalization undercuts that purpose: As big businesses and corporations begin to grow, sell, and market pot, marijuana is losing its status as a counterculture symbol — and that, Humphreys speculated, could bring the end of the traditional, countercultural 4/20.
“If a corporate marijuana industry adopts 4/20, it would still be a celebrated event, but not with the same countercultural meaning,” Humphreys said. “People celebrated Christmas long before it became an occasion for an orgy of gift-buying and materialist consumption, but the meaning of the holiday for most people was different then than it is now.”
Companies such as Invest in Cannabis now admit they’re already leveraging the holiday as another opportunity to promote the industry and its products — much like beer and other alcohol companies now do with St. Patrick’s Day.
“The media is covering 4/20 as a consumer interest story,” Miller of Invest in Cannabis said. “But some portion of the media is covering 4/20 as a call to arms for the industry — so [in 2015] there are multiple competitive business conferences that are happening in Denver, the [San Francisco] Bay Area, and Las Vegas.”
The pot industry has also gotten directly involved in 4/20 events. The Cannabis Cup, for example, has become a major event at a select city’s 4/20 rally, where hundreds of vendors show off their finest marijuana products to tens of thousands of attendees. The event has steadily grown over the years, featuring big concerts from notable musicians like Snoop Dogg, Soja, and 2 Chainz, as well as a wide collection of marijuana businesses as sponsors.
The Cannabis Cup is only one of many events, which also include comedy shows (like Cheech and Chong), marijuana-friendly speed dating, and trade shows for glass pipes and bongs, offering businesses and celebrities various opportunities to push their products and brands.
Some people don’t attend the public festivities at all, choosing instead to stay home and enjoy a joint (or more) with their friends. For them, 4/20 likely remains a more casual affair void of big sponsorships and marketing.
But in public, 4/20 is increasingly becoming a commercial holiday.
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