HERBAL HOLIDAY

Hashing Out The History Of 420 And The Marijuana Subculture

This Monday, April 20th, marijuana enthusiasts around the globe will
collectively burn in celebration of the day that has become
unofficially recognized the world over as the most important date on
the pot smoker's calendar. And though most people think of April
20th as special because of this attributed holiday status, it isn't
really the day that's important, it's the numbers making up the
date: 420. The number 420 has been associated with the marijuana
subculture for years and doesn't just refer to the twentieth day or
April, but is used as a general term for all aspects of
marijuana usage. But what significance does the number 420
hold? Where did it come from and why is it so important to the
marijuana subculture?

There are many different myths about where the term 420 actually
originated. Among all the legends and superstitions and incorrect
claims (e.g. "420" is police code for marijuana"), no one can say
with 100% certainty where the term came from. The likeliest source,
however, is from a bunch of teenage smokers in the 1970s. The story
goes that several Californian high school boys would get together
every day at 4:20 PM-because that's when their detention would let
out - and smoke together. They referred to smoking pot by using the
time they met each day and would even write it on and carve it into
various places for fun. Years later, some of the boys were surprised
when they noticed that 420 was being used as a prevalent term
in the marijuana subculture.

This story is generally considered the most plausible and
widely-accepted of all the theories concerning the source of 420.
But whatever its origins, 420 has grown to symbolize not only the
act of smoking marijuana, but the entire marijuana subculture as a
whole. The fact that a term used by a few guys nearly 40 years ago
in California (if that is the true origin of the term) can be passed
around (no pun intended) by pot smokers until it becomes
internationally recognized as a symbol of an entire subculture is in
and of itself a testament to the strong communal connectivity of
that counterculture. But this isn't really an unusual phenomenon for
subcultures that involve illicit activities. Subcultures based
around an illegal activity have to be secretive by nature. Often
specialized vocabulary must be used and established rules of
etiquette must be observed, not just out of practice, but to keep
those involved from getting in trouble with the law.

But marijuana users didn't always have to be considered an illicit
subculture. In fact, marijuana as an illegal substance didn't come
about until relatively recently in the several millennia-long
history of cannabis's status as an essential, multi-use plant.
Around 8000 years ago, the seeds of the cannabis plant were used for
food in China. Over the course of another few thousand years, it
became utilized in clothing and textiles as hemp and was developed
into medicines for a variety of ailments. Five centuries before the
Christian era, cannabis was introduced to Europe and it spread
throughout the continent. It wasn't until the era of the Great
Depression in the U.S. that marijuana use was viewed as negative.

When the Great Depression hit in the early part of the 20th century,
marijuana was a popular recreational drug amongst the Mexican
immigrant workers of the American southwest. When times got tough,
people began to panic under the stress of losing their jobs. Needing
to focus their anger and frustration, the white Americans of the
time set their sights on immigrant workers and, in what can only be
described as an act of pure racism, eventually outlawed the use of
marijuana, essentially outlawing a specific aspect of a specific
culture's way of life. A very similar situation had already occurred
in the United States with the opium that was important to some Asian
cultures at the time (though, admittedly, opium is in a whole
different ballpark than marijuana when it comes to addiction, side
effects, etc.). In the time since, many doctors and drug
professionals have come forward with evidence that marijuana should
be reclassified from a narcotic for its medicina! l properties.
Though recent attitudes toward marijuana have begun to relax
somewhat-especially in the case of medicinal marijuana-it still
remains a federal offense to possess the parts of the plant that
contain THC (a.k.a. the part that gets you high).

So that's the long and short of it. Cannabis has been a useful crop
for millennia. Pot became illegal less than a hundred years ago
thanks to some rather shady motivation. Some kids in the 70s had to
wait until detention was over to burn everyday. And that's why you
can buy t-shirts with "420" on them and G4 dedicates an entire day
of programming to all things stoner related. Now, before you think
we here at UWeekly are all just gaga for ganja, take note that this
article in no way advocates for the use of marijuana or suggests
that you in any way break the law this upcoming Monday. We
just wanted to take a closer look at all the hype surrounding a
simple little number.