420 Cannabis Culture

So what's the big deal about 4/20 that has students rushing behind buildings to light marijuana joints at exactly 4:20pm and has cops on high alert at every major high school parking lot? Many classmates of mine in high school would plan for this date weeks in advance and try to master a plan to avoid any encounter with the law and authority that would potentially spoil their fun. (If only they devoted that much preparation time to their final exams; perhaps our world would be a better place!) I've always known that April 20th was a much-awaited date amongst middle school and high school students to light up and get high but I had never questioned its origin; here's what Wikipedia had to say:

"It is widely accepted that in 1971, a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California, calling themselves "The Waldos", used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the Louis Pasteur statue. The term became part of their group's salute, "420 Louis," and it eventually caught on more widely. Many cannabis users continue to observe 4:20 as a time to smoke communally. By extension April 20 ("4/20" in U.S. dating shorthand) has evolved into a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis."