NORML plans to hold its annual conference on April 20, a day known as the Stoners' New Year. "We have scheduled the conference to coincide with 4/20, the date that has become associated in the popular culture as a special day for marijuana smokers -- sort of what 'Miller time' has become to beer drinkers," according to the NORML website. "We hope to build on that tradition."

Some believe 420 got its origins as a police radio code for "pot smoking in progress." But Steven Hager, editor of High Times, said its reference goes back to 1971, when a group of high-school students in California met frequently at 4:20 to smoke. According to Hager, the term eventually caught on and was popularized in the counterculture by the Grateful Dead.

"It is now known universally around the world by people in the drug culture," Hager noted. "And for 20 years, there have been important rituals and ceremonies that happen on April 20."

Today, the 420 term appears on youth clothing, skateboards, surfboards and snowboards. Parents, on the other hand, are usually unaware of the reference.

"This is a whole culture with kids," said Beth Kane Davidson, director of the addiction-treatment center at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md. "Even if your adolescent is at home alone at 4:20, and he smokes up, he is not alone. He knows somebody somewhere else is smoking also."

NORML's Allen St. Pierre said he is concerned about connecting 420 with the group's conference. "As soon as it gets bandied about on the 'Today' show, 420 will fizzle as a cultural phenomenon."

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by testing on 28 Feb 08 03:43 PM EST

testing

SUBMIT A COMMENT:

Note: Comments are now held for moderator approval. More info

Name:
Comment: (limit 250 words)
Enter this word (help):	Change

GUIDELINES: 
Please keep comments on-topic, courteous, clean, non-commercial, and within the word limit.
Read the complete guidelines