Image: Roman Barkov - Getty Images
4:20 clock with marijuana leaf
April 20 is almost upon us, in an America where, every year, more and more Americans earn freedom from prohibition. April 20 holds a special significance for cannabis enthusiasts across the world. Dubbed the pot holiday, 4/20 or just 420, the day is a cornerstone of counterculture during which legal cannabis retailers offer discounts, events are organized, and people celebrate the end of the nonsensical war on cannabis.
What is 420?
There have been myths claiming that 420 originated as a police dispatch code for marijuana offenses or a section of a state’s penal code for marijuana possession. A rumor online claims that 420 originated from the movie Pulp Fiction, in which most of the clocks seen on screen are stuck on 4:20, but it seems likely that director Quentin Tarantino was referring to the already existing 420 culture. Stranger yet, some claim that 420 is a reference to Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
While the German Führer was indeed born on April 20 but it has nothing to do with cannabis; the same applies to the Columbine school shooting, which is also rumored to be related to 420. Another myth claims that famous rock band The Grateful Dead always wanted to sleep in hotel rooms numbered 420 on tour, which has never been confirmed to be true. But the Grateful Dead connection is the closest to what is now widely accepted as the truth.
In the early 1970s, a group of high schoolers in San Rafael, California, would meet up at 4:20 p.m. in front of a statue of chemist Louis Pasteur to get high. The time was chosen because it accommodated high school classes for the group of friends, one of whom later worked as a roadie for Phil Lesh, bassist with The Grateful Dead. Through this connection, the band started using 420 for weed as well, and the message ended up on a flyer telling fans to “smoke pot at 4:20.” The flyer reflected a growing sentiment for activism and civil action, including the phrase “legalize it” and urging fans to support NORML, which is the still active and successful National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
“Now there's something even grander than getting baked at 4:20. We're talking about the day of celebration, the real time to get high, the grand master of all holidays: 4/20, or April 20th,” it read, in the first known call to make April 20 a national pot holiday.
420 Day vintage flyer
This flyer was obtained by journalist Steve Bloom and published in the magazine High Times. The popularity of 420 as shorthand for recreational marijuana kept increasing until it became hard to even remember where it all started.
It has since been a longstanding tradition among lawmakers to reference 420 to signal their support of marijuana. California legalized medical marijuana through SB420, for instance. Rep. Earl Blumenauer authored a (ultimately failed) marijuana legalization bill filed as HR420. When activist Adam Eidinger’s Cannabis Campaign successfully legalized marijuana in Washington D.C., D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser offered him a 420 license plate.
What About 4/20 in Wisconsin?
During this year’s pot holiday, the sun will shine on an America where 37 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and 18 states have legalized it recreationally. On the other hand, in a Wisconsin where nonviolent possession of a minuscule amount of marijuana can be a felony, 4/20 will only be a Wednesday.
A few local businesses, such as Native American-owned hemp farm Canndigenous or Eau Claire head shop Heady Hut, will have private events to celebrate April 20, but observance of the pot holiday is minimal in Wisconsin. Ironically, any event would be required to be marijuana-free.
The Republican State Senate has scheduled SB 1034 for a hearing on April 20. The bill, led by Republican Sen. Mary Felzkowski, is a very small step and a very constrained step forward. It will provide marijuana for those who have serious health issues and who is under a doctor’s care. Senator Felzkowski, a cancer survivor fully understands that with the amount of opposition to any legalization efforts for marijuana in her caucus, this is about the most that might have a chance to pass. Also, it provides an opportunity to have a public hearing so there can be a rational discussion of the issue in the state capitol.
Democrats are, of course, very critical. The bill would limit legal marijuana to oils, pills, tinctures and topical. It would put the marijuana industry in the hands of pharmaceutical corporations, ban home cultivation and undermine small producers, among other things. Obviously, this is not what most people have in mind when they discuss legalization of marijuana. Also, of interest, the latest data from Marquette University poll show that a majority of Republican voters in Wisconsin want to legalize marijuana. Unfortunately, with gerrymandered districts their elected officials can simply ignore their voters’ wishes.
