420 REASONS TO CELEBRATE

What's the deal with the stoner magic number?

Four-twenty. Though pot-smokers' relationship with the first 419
integers in the numerical system is decidedly indifferent, the number
420 elicits salivation, giddiness, and a rustling of Zig-Zags upon its
very utterance. Now, why is that?

As April 20, the widely recognized pot-smoking holiday approaches,
it's time to look at this mysterious number and try to figure out its
hazy significance. If you ask four stoners what 420 means, odds are
you'll get four different answers. So what's the truth?

Many claim that 420 is the penal code section for marijuana use (those
sober-minded enough to realize every province or state has its own
penal code often add "in California"). Alternatively, it is stated
that 420 is the police call number for "marijuana smoking in
progress." Neither of these is true -- not in California, not anywhere.

Some say the Grateful Dead came up with the number 420, either because
they always stayed in hotel room 420 when on tour, or because their
San Francisco address was 420 Haight Street. Again, these are both
false.

Others point to the fact that April 20 is Adolph Hitler's birthday (in
1889), which is true. But, though Hitler was a methamphetamine addict
late in life, there is no evidence that would connect him to pot
usage, and it's hard to imagine why peace-loving weed smokers would
possibly want to connect themselves to Hitler in any way. On a less
sinister note, April 20 is also Carmen Electra's birthday (She will be
35, so get the right amount of candles).

Yet another theory is that the first intentional usage of LSD occurred
on April 20 at 4:20 p.m.. This is almost true; Albert Hoffman,
believed to be the first scientist to deliberately dose himself with
the experimental narcotic, actually dropped on April 19, 1943, though
his notebooks confirm that the time was indeed 4:20. However, stoner
experts now consider this little-known tidbit coincidental.

What is now the most commonly accepted theory is that, in 1971, a
group of students at San Rafael High School, in the California town of
the same name, used to meet up under a statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20
p.m. after class to get high. Their code word for smoking was "4:20
Louis."

Why is this now the "commonly accepted theory?" As far as I can tell,
it is because it was endorsed by High Times magazine, the famous
stoner periodical that popularized 4:20 in the early '90s. In 1998,
the High Times editors received letters from one of the San Rafael
students "proving" that he had originated the term.

"Well, here's the concrete theory," Chris Buors, the leader of the
Manitoba Marijuana Party told me. "You pull out your record from
Boston, in the '70s or '80s, and they did a song called "Smokin." That
tune is exactly four minutes and 20 seconds long."

According to Buors, roadies started the 420 tradition in the '70s when
they smoked up to the tune of Boston's riffs. He said he first heard
this theory from well-known Canadian cannabis enthusiast Mark Emery,
who used to be a roadie.

Boston's eponymous first album, which includes the track "Smokin"
(indeed, it does have a running length of 4:20) was released in 1976,
so Buors' and Emery's theory does not necessarily disprove the San
Rafael theory.

Outside of graffiti, references to 420 can be found everywhere. Bill
420, passed by the Governator in 2004, regulates medical marijuana
usage in California. And if the numerical choice was not deliberately
referential, that's, like, really fucking trippy. You may have heard
that in Quentin Tarantino's in-joke-laden Pulp Fiction, all of the
clocks are set to 4:20, which is almost true. The one exception is the
"gold watch" -- when Christopher Walken gives it to the little boy who
will be Bruce Willis, you can see it reads 9:00. That Bob Dylan song
where he sings, "everybody must get stoned" is titled "Rainy Day Women
#12 and 35." Without resorting to a calculator, who can tell me what
12 times 35 is?

What is most important to Winnipeggers is that 4:20, or April 20,
represents the day when marijuana smokers can revel in their habit.
For several years now, the occasion has been marked by a pot-fuelled
protest at the Manitoba legislature in the hopes of repealing
marijuana prohibition laws (or, at least, in the hopes of getting
fucked up on city property).

"Well, there's nothing really organized. It's kind of just an
underground, word-of-mouth type thing," Buors, a vocal local pot
promoter, says of the annual 420 protest.

"It brings attention to the cause," he adds. "It's always important to
let these politicians know that we're out there in strength." Though
mostly high school students attend, and Buors is not allowed to hold
an "official" protest, he relishes the opportunity to consort with
other cannabis consumers.

"To me, I love this, because [politicians] spend millions of dollars
educating their students, which is of course political indoctrination
. . . I get the opportunity to make the case to the kids [for
legalization], and have a good chit-chat while I'm there."

So, if you love weed, make sure to head down to the legislature on
4:20, take part in the mysterious tradition, and burn one down for
Carmen Electra.