420 (cannabis culture)

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For some people (particularly some of those within cannabis culture, but also more widely), the number 420 (pronounced four-twenty) relates to the consumption of cannabis as a drug, and elements of its associated culture. The exact origin of the term is unknown. Cannabis users gather on April 20 ("4/20" in the United States dating shorthand) every year to celebrate and consume cannabis. 4:20p.m. (or even a.m.) is also a popular time to consume cannabis.[1] "420 friendly" is seen on advertisements for roommates, indicating that the housemates are tolerant of smoking cannabis[2].

1 Origin
- 1.1 Commonly accepted origin
- 1.2 Alternate origin
2 References in popular culture
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Origin

The origin of the term "420" is the subject of some dispute and much speculation, and so no theory can be said conclusively to be correct, but the term seems to have first come into popular usage in the early 1970s and in North America^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Commonly accepted origin

Snopes.com, High Times magazine, The Marijuana-Logues, and The Straight Dope claim that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California, used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke cannabis at the Louis Pasteur statue. One piece of evidence supporting an origin of the term from the time 4:20 is the fact that the number is always said "four twenty". This theory is also the most cited and the most widely accepted.[3]

[edit] Alternate origin

H. P. Lovecraft's short story, In the Walls of Eryx, which contains the line, "My route must have been far from straight, for it seemed hours before I was free of the mirage-plant's pervasive influence... When I did get wholly clear I looked at my watch and was astonished to find that the time was only 4:20." Lovecraft describes these "curious mirage-plants" as having a "shaggy stalk", "spiky leaves", and "mottled blossoms whose gaseous, dream-breeding exhalations penetrate every existing make of mask." This theory for the origin of 4:20 was postulated on the official website for the band Tool.[4]

[edit] References in popular culture

[edit] Occurrences in music

The Bob Dylan song "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." The song, initially released in 1966 on the album Blonde on Blonde, features the prominent refrain "everybody must get stoned." This is repeated twelve times throughout the song. Since twelve multiplied by thirty-five equals 420, it has been suggested that this song is the original source of the term 420 in cannabis culture.^{[citation needed]}
Rap artist Afroman released an album called '4RO20' and his website runs under the slogan "Where it's always 4RO20." Also, he changed the label on his "Colt 45" bottle to say "Cult 420," as seen on his website. Also, the clock shown on his website is stopped at 4:20.
The album Royal Highness by the Kottonmouth Kings lists all song durations as 4:20; actual song times vary. They also have a song called "4-2-0."
The song "Take Me to Your Leader" by Incubus contains the lyric, "What if my watch read four dot dot two oh every hour, every day, you could bet your dollar I'd be happy!"
The song "Trouble in 421" by Incubus has the subject of the song living in apartment "420 G," and contains the lyrics, "his pupil was wide open...it was indubitably dose derived," and, "I beg my common sense to keep my neighbor out away from my front door until I find a way to hide myself from those in 4-2-1...one away from the good one."
The song "Stoned Part I" (from the album Stoned by Lewis Taylor) was also released in a "420 Mix" by HackTone Records, with a duration of 4:20.
The Megadeth song "Mary Jane," from their third album So Far, So Good...So What!, has its last beat stop at exactly four minutes and twenty seconds, even though the total running time is 4:24. "Mary Jane" is a common slang term for cannabis.
The death metal band Six Feet Under recorded a song called "420" with a running time of four minutes and twenty seconds for their 1997 album Warpath. A vocal proponent of legalizing cannabis, frontman Chris Barnes wrote the song about the effects of cannabis and often refers to the act of smoking when the band plays the song live.^{[citation needed]} According to the album liner notes, the song was recorded at 4:20 p.m. on April 20, 1997.
Rapper Method Man's fourth studio album was named 4:21...The Day After, because, according to Mef himself, "The national weed smoking day is 4/20, so I named my album 4/21 the day after. Because after that day, you have this moment of clarity when you’re not high and you see things clearly."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Occurrences in film and television

In the colorized version of the 1936 anti-cannabis/exploitation classic Reefer Madness, there is a brief subliminal flash showing 4:20 with a cannabis leaf in the background, 20 minutes and 24 seconds into the film. The colorized DVD was originally released on April 20, 2004, another reference to the slang term.^{[citation needed]}
The number is also prominently featured in the 2005 made-for-television musical version of Reefer Madness, which is based on the Reefer Madness stage show, which itself is based on the aforementioned 1936 film.

[edit] Other popular culture occurrences

A cannabis coffeeshop located at Oude Brugsteeg 27 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands is named the "420 Cafe".
In the game Kingdom of Loathing, eating 420 herb brownies earns you the "Bouquet of Hippies" trophy.
A chain of head shops in Japan are all named 4:20.
NORML launches a daily podcast entitled "AudioStash" daily at 4:20.
42 Degrees is the name of a U.S. head shop operation, with locations in Ann Arbor, Athens, and Atlanta. When written out with the symbol for temperature degrees, 42° is an obvious play on 420.