April 10, 2010 – Ottawa, Canada- For at least 10 years now, when the Peace Tower’s clock turns to 4:20pm on April 20th, huge crowds of youth, adults and seniors gather in the Nation’s Capital on Major’s and Parliament hills to protest the prohibition of Marijuana. There is rarely any media coverage for this event that attracts thousands of Ottawans. Under the watchful but relaxed eyes of police, the smell of cannabis fills the air on this usually sunny afternoon. This is a safe and prime opportunity to come interview, meet and discuss with these modern day rights activists. Their voices need to be herd and there is great need and interest for open discourse on this growing international phenomenon. Lately, Prime Minister Harper was raffled with questions concerning Marijuana legislation during his public YouTube questions period appearance. This event happens in almost all major cities around the world.

For more information and article describing the history and location of international 4:20 events click here.

Four-Twenty, or 4/20, or April 20th, is the world-recognized international day of celebration for the planet’s estimated 250,000,000 members of the cannabis culture.

A LITTLE HISTORY

It is interesting that most of the official reports and rumors about the origins of 4/20 trace directly back to ‘The Waldos’ in San Rafael High School in 1971. ‘The Waldos’ have many items of date-documented evidence, some from the San Rafael Police department, proving that they would smoke cannabis at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20pm everyday. It passed from those high school students, into the 70’s Grateful Dead culture where it spread all across the United States.

The students there may have been inspired by an older reference, like H.P. Lovecraft’s mention of the time in the story “In the Walls of Eryx”, in which a man exploring the planet Venus encounters a “mirage-plant” and begins to see “dancing lights” and “shimmering spectral scenery”. After regaining his senses, he realizes it is 4:20.

Over 35 alternative stories, legends, rumors about the origins of 420 are known to circulate, including in the mainstream media, but the simple explanation above is most likely the correct history. Other purported sources for 4/20 are Bob Dylan’s song Rainy Day Woman #12 & #35. 12 x 35 = 420. The song is more commonly known as Everybody Must Get Stoned. Written in 1965, it would be the oldest and most compelling of the competing 4/20 legends. Another is the song written by John Lennon for Tim Leary’s aborted run for California Governor in 1969, Come Together, is 4 minutes, twenty seconds long.

By the early 1990’s, 4:20pm was the toke of the day, with the cannabis siesta at 4:20am. In the late 1990’s, spontaneous groups of 10’s, dozens, and hundreds of people in cities around the world began a tradition.

The actual 4/20 day, as a celebration taking up all or various parts of the day, started in Vancouver in 1995. The HEMP BC store, Marc Emery’s original hemp store in Vancouver, was staffed by Grateful Deadheads. Marc Emery recalls; “I remember my store manager Danna Rozek and an employee named Cindy Lassu came up to me in early April 1995, and said, ‘Marc, can we have a 4/20 celebration on April 20th next door in Victory Park?’ I responded, ‘like, on 4:20 in the afternoon on April 20?’ and they said, “No, like all day on April 20?” they replied. “What will we do all day?” I asked, and they said “Smoke pot all day and play music.” I replied “We can’t just smoke pot all day. That’s decadent. No, you can’t do it.”. So rebuffed, Ms. Rosek then asked “Can we just go ahead and do it anyway even if you don’t approve?”. So I said yes and the staff organized the first April 20 celebration I ever heard of, at Victory Square/Park next door. 200 people came that April 20, 1995 and it was a lovely time, with music starting at 2.00 pm and going till 7 pm. In 1996, over 500 people came to Victory Park and smoked pot all day with the event starting at noon. It was decided that Victory Square was too small for the 1997 April 20th smoke-fest, so the traditional political rally location of the Vancouver Art Gallery, in downtown Vancouver’s financial district, was the site of the 1997 4/20 celebration. Over 1,000 people attended the 1997 Vancouver 4/20 and was widely covered in media and the phenomonon began to spread to other locations across North America.

These days, if the weather is fine, tokers around the globe jam into their main city square, beginning in the early afternoon, finally climaxing with massive simultaneous smoke-outs at 4:20pm every April 20th!

4/20 2010

What’s going on in the cannabis culture today near you?

Here is the Cannabis Culture 411 for 4/20:

Ganja get-togethers will be protesting the unjust prohibition of cannabis by proudly promoting and puffing in cities across Canada, the United States and the World.

The 4/20 smoke-outs are a series of cannabis rallies that will demonstrate, as they do every year, the impracticability of enforcing the current marijuana laws. Drug peace activists invite all herb enthusiasts to join them in defiant solidarity. Everyone is invited to publicly show their love of the weed and experience a taste of freedom by doobie demonstrating with activists in your area.

Many well-known tourist’s traps have been targeted for toking in North America, from Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square, to Denver’s Civic Center Park, to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, all the way to Vancouver’s Art Gallery and many more…

If you have any Pot Pictures, Video or Stories from any of the Global 420 celebrations, please forward them to us at cannabisculture.com or POT.TV. Photos can be emailed to: jeremiah@cannabisculture.com

Don’t forget to attent a separate event, the Global Marijuana March, 10 days after 4/20 in Toronto (Saturday May 1st 2010).  Source.