Photo: Paper Blog
On April 20th every year, cannabis users across the country smoke a little extra while gathering to celebrate their favorite plant. The holiday allegedly began in the 1970s when a group of kids, named 'The Waldos' thanks to their chosen hang-out spot (a wall), started meeting up at 4:20 to search for an abandoned cannabis crop. Since their meeting place was the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School at 4:20, the phrase used to refer to the plan was “4:20 Louis.” After failing to find the crop multiple times, the phrase was shortened to “4:20," which eventually grew into a cannabis codeword for teens. As time has passed, theories about 420’s origin have also considered California’s penal code section for marijuana use, the police code for smoking and even the most ideal day to plant cannabis.
Towards the end of April, across the country, rallies, gatherings and smoke-ins give supporters a place to network, protest and commit good-natured civil disobedience (in the form of smoking in public). Places like Hippie Hill in San Francisco, California and Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado give way to massive smoke clouds in a combined celebration of enjoying and pushing for legal marijuana.
However, more recently, July 10th has also become a day equally celebrated in the cannabis community as April 20th. The date 7/10 is significant because when reading the numbers upside down, it spells out the word “oil.” July 10th is regarded as the 4/20 of dabbing, although the April holiday isn’t necessarily exclusive to smoking raw cannabis. 7/10 isn’t as political as its sister holiday, likely because dabbing is less popular and newer than simply smoking cannabis.
