POT SMOKERS LIGHT UP FOR THEIR OWN HOLIDAY

WACO - Talking to Rob Ondreas is enough to make a guy get the
munchies.

Ondreas is passionate about pot smoking, and his face lit up when he
looked at his cellphone and saw that it was 4:20 p.m. That's exactly
what he was meeting with a reporter to talk about -- 420 ("four
twenty" in pot parlance).

And what do he and his friends have planned for today, April 20
(4/20)?

"I'll be smoking, you can count on that," he said proudly. "I'll get
together with some of my crowd, and we'll celebrate the day right,
probably with some good hydro [a marijuana connoisseur's choice] for a
special occasion."

The term "420" is a symbol of cannabis culture, and April 20 has
become something of a pot smoker's holiday.

Steven Hager, former editor of High Times magazine, traced its origin
to 1971, when about a dozen students at San Rafael High School in
California would gather after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke pot at the
campus statue of Louis Pasteur. The term was used by the group as a
code for pot. "Do you have any 420?" or "Do I look 420?" was common
banter, according to a member of the group quoted in High Times.

The term spread with the help of the Grateful Dead and its legion of
pot-smoking fans. Decades later, the term has encompassed April 20 as
a day of unity among marijuana users.

Ondreas, who is 30 and lives in Waco, said he's been smoking pot since
he was 18. He isn't shy about it because he's responsible, he said.
He's worked for the same company for seven years and pays taxes, he
said.

He's had brushes with the law but hasn't spent any time in
jail.

Acts of civil disobedience will take place in several states and towns
today, many on college campuses, in honor of 420. In Austin, the Texas
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(NORML) will have a "benefit" at The Vibe, a Sixth Street club known
for such events.

Sarah Darrouzet, president of the Texas chapter and a graduate student
at the University of Texas at Austin, said 420 has become part of
American culture.

"It's turned into something like afternoon tea," she said. "The
British drink tea; we smoke some pot. It's not that big of a deal to
most people, which is why the laws in Texas against it are so silly."

Chief Deputy Randy Plemons of the McLennan County Sheriff's
Department, who is a former DARE instructor, said legalized marijuana
would make more people a danger to themselves and others by putting a
substance that causes impairment in their systems.

Sgt. Ryan Holt, a spokesman for the Waco Police Department, was
unfamiliar with the term "420" and said the police had no plans for a
roundup of pot smokers. Because Monday was the anniversary of both the
ending of the Branch Davidian standoff near Waco in 1993 and the
Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, and today is the fifth
anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, this is a busy
security week for the department, he said.

Jim Doak, director of Baylor University's Department of Public Safety,
said that a few years back someone wrote "420" on several cars with
shoe polish, but that otherwise the day is a nonevent on campus.

"We're mindful of it, the officers are aware of it, but there are no
planned gatherings that we know of," he said.

Ondreas said he knew of about 25 to 30 people who would celebrate 420
today. An online poll taken at 420.com found that of 4,450
respondents, almost 70 percent were planning on being part of a
"smoke-in" today.

So if people are scarce this afternoon around, well, you know what
time, draw your own conclusions.