The Legend of 420

For all of you who were dying inside while convincing yourself bong hitage at 4:20 on the morning of 4/21 kind of counted, I just got word that this year, because 4/20 fell on a Friday, we have what is known as a "420 Weekend." I told you god was black.

The fine ladies at Girls Gone Weed just passed all their myspace friends a fatty hit of kind, kind...INFORMATION. About 420. In the style of an SAT reading comprehension practice test excerpt. Here it is:

"420 started in 1972 with six students at San Rafael High School in Marin County.They called themselves the "Waldos" because they didn't fit in with any of the established social groups at school. The Waldos really loved the New Riders of the Purple Sage, the first Grateful Dead spin off band. In the mid-seventies, the headquarters for the Grateful Dead was only a few blocks from San Rafael High School.

One day, one of the Waldos was given a map to an abandoned pot field located in a remote section of Marin County near the ocean. The Waldos met one day after school to go look for this pot patch and they decided to meet at the Louis Pasteur statue outside the school at 4:20. They reminded each other during the day about the planned adventure by saying "420" to each other in the hallways. They would spend many afternoons searching for the field, but never found it. Eventually, 420 became a Waldo code word for marijuana, a code that spread into the Grateful Dead scene, and eventually reached High Times magazine. After I discovered the code, I began organizing ceremonies at 420 at the Cannabis Cup, WHEE!, and other events. Before long, the code circled the globe and people in Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Brazil, and many other countries began celebrating marijuana at 4:20 p.m. I think 420 is important for a number of reasons. Not only is it the first big international holiday of cannabis culture, but it's also a helpful guide for responsible use. Unless you have a medical need, it's best to wait until 4:20 to become intoxicated. It's our "tea time" and "happy hour" rolled into one. And remember: The less you do, the higher you get. People who wait until 4:20 get a lot higher than breakfast bonghitters."

Well done.



Louis Pasteur thinking about how cool his roommates would think he was if he had the balls to steal some shit from the lab.