What's 420 ?

Here in the H*E*M*P* Bar 4:20 is the time Undatoka lights the biggest joint he can roll from the donated "4:20 buds", and everyone in the H*E*M*P* Bar has the chance to have a puff in front of the 2 webcams to make thier own political statement that they believe that smoking cannabis should not and, is not, an illegal act, and that they believe the laws should be changed. Kind of a little daily Mardi Grass .

We celebrate 4:20 every day, the Webcam was "born" at 4:20 pm on the 20th of April (which in American time shorthand is 4/20). which of course was the webcasting the inaugural 4:20 Webshow.

So far since that first 4:20 Webshow we have celebrated in excess of 2200 webshows some depicting the rolling and then smoking of the 4:20 Joint others just the Joint making its way from activist to activist taking up to 42 minutes to be smoked.

The origins of 4:20 According to Steven Hager, editor of High Times, the term 420 originated at San Rafael High School, in 1971, among a group of about a dozen pot-smoking wiseacres who called themselves the Waldos, who are now pushing 50.

The term was shorthand for the time of day the group would meet, at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur, to smoke pot.

Intent on developing their own discreet language, they made 420 code for a time to get high, and its use spread among their peers many of whom went on to work on computers then globally when it hit the internet.

A quote from one of the Waldos in the High Times magazine states, "We did discover we could talk about getting high in front of our parents without them knowing by using the phrase 420."

Known Myths

* Police dispatch code for smoking pot is 420. The number 420 is not police radio code for anything, anywhere. Checks of criminal codes suggest that the origin is neither Californian nor federal. For instance, California Penal Code 420 defines as a misdemeanor the hindrance of use of public lands.

* There are approximately 420 active chemicals in marijuana. Actually, there are approximately 315 active chemicals in marijuana. This number goes up and down depending on which plant is used.

* April 20th is National Pot Smokers Day. Well, it is now; but that wasn't the origin.

* April 20th is Hitler's birthday. Yes, it is his birthday. But, as 420 started out as a time, not a date, his birthday had nothing to do with it.

* April 20th is the date of the Columbine school shootings. This happened after the term was already in use.

* 4:20 is tea time for pot-smokers in Holland. Tea time in Holland is at 5:30 pm, or is it 2:30 pm? Seems no one is quite sure when the people of Holland drink their tea but its certainly not at 4:20.

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