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.
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