Feature:
On
the
Occasion
of
our
420th
Issue,
We
Look
at
4:20
1/27/06
Every suburban stoner, rural reefer man, and urban herb-lover surely knows the significance of the phrase "4:20." The secret code for "time to get high" has been around since the late 1970s, and has expanded to also mark April 20 (4/20) as the ultimate unofficial pot-smoker's holiday. The phrase is ubiquitous, showing up on record albums, posters, gimme caps, and damned near anything else one can think of. And while its origin has been a matter of intense speculation -- an early favorite was that it was police radio code for a marijuana law violation -- according to veteran High Times editor Steve Bloom, arguably the world's leading 4:20 authority, the phrase originated among a bunch of high school stoners in San Rafael, California, known as the Waldos after one of their crew, Steve Waldo. As Bloom recounts, he first came across a 4:20 flyer at a Grateful Dead concert in Oakland in 1990. That flyer claimed 4:20 was a subversive inversion of police radio lingo and that the term originated in San Rafael. Eight years later, Waldo contacted High Times editor Steve Hager with the real scoop. In the years since the high school bad boys got together in front of the Louis Pasteur statue in San Rafael each day at 4:20 for some post-educational relaxation, the coded phrase spread among pot-smokers worldwide, first through the Deadhead community, and then beyond into broader stonerdom until even kids in East Podunk could agree to meet at 4:20 in front of oblivious parents. 4:20 is by now such well-known stoner code that each April we can count on a spate of media pieces about the phenomenon. In fact, says Bloom, the man who wrote the first 4:20 story back in 1991, press interest in the phrase is so predictable that he felt compelled to address it in the magazine's May issue (on the stands in April), at least in part as a cheat sheet for curious journalists parachuting into the exotic marijuana culture for a piece. The 4:20 meme has also begun to leak into the broader culture, or at least some of its more self-consciously knowing media. It showed up on a recurring Saturday Night Live skit featuring a Hampshire College dorm room web cam -- one of whose regulars, a stereotypical stoner played by Horatio Sanz, commented, "It's 4:20 somewhere," to which his clearer-headed friend responded, "No it's not, don't you know how time zones work?" A series of visits to alternate universes in an episode of the now-syndicated animated series Futurama included "Universe 420," where a hippie "Dr. Freaksworth" took the place of the decrepitly aged regular series character "Dr. Farnsworth." The story of the phrase's origins and spread through the marijuana culture is one thing. Why it should resonate so much is another. Bloom had some ideas about that, and so did NORML founder and recently retired executive director Keith Stroup. "It's hard to say why 4:20 has taken off like it has," said Bloom, "but as an underground culture of smokers and activists who face legal problems over marijuana, we have to live in a coded world. People just come up with phrases the rest of the world doesn't understand, and despite the phrase's fame in our circles, I'm sure there are still parents who don't know what their kids are talking about when they say 4:20." "The 4:20 phenomenon is a direct reflection of the extent of oppression facing marijuana smokers," said Stroup. "If marijuana were not illegal but just out of favor, I don't think the culture would have enough cohesiveness to give a shit about having its own holidays. But because we are oppressed, there is a real resonance to having the secret code and holiday. I wish we didn't need our own special holiday, but that's a reflection of our repression." NORML, unsurprisingly, is one organization that pays attention to 4:20. It typically schedules its annual national convention around April 20, and this year is no exception. The 2006 conference will take place April 20-22 in San Francisco. "Once 4:20 caught on and created its own significance as an underground code, it then made its way through the culture," said Bloom. "After I did that article in 1991, it developed a life of its own, popping up regularly in our reader-fueled High 100 features, percolating through the High Times readership and then showing up on hats, logos, even a record company name. It has a life of its own," he said. "It's our own little holiday," Bloom said. "We have people sending each other emails saying 'Happy 4:20,' we get all kinds of requests for interviews, we get on the Tom Leykis radio show, where he has 10 people with bongs, and they do a countdown to 4:20 on 4/20. That's kind of ballsy, but it's also a good way to promote our culture. It might seem trivial, but anything that promotes the marijuana culture is good." And while there are hemp fests and pot protest marches, 4:20 doesn't need a lot of organizing. "With 4:20, people do things themselves, they have their little pot parties all across the country and celebrate the herb and light one up for legalization. It keeps the fire burning, and that's good for keeping people focused. People love the idea of smoking on 4/20, they love the countdown concept, they love the feeling of being united."
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