Yes.. Today is April 20! It's otherwise known as 4/20 to marijuana enthusiasts. To mark the occasion, here are seven random facts that I dug up about cannabis that you may not have been aware of:
- The origin of the term involved five high school students in 1971. "The Waldos" (because the five teenagers always hung out near a wall) would meet by a statue of Louis Pasteur near San Rafael High School at 4:20 p.m., before they'd go looking for an alleged marijuana crop in Point Reyes, California.
- Grateful Dead and their fans (or "Deadheads") are commonly credited for popularizing "4/20"--the term, not the use of marijuana (although they're fans of that too).
- 420 isn't a penal or police dispatch code for illegal marijuana use. 420 is a penal code in California for obstructing entry on public land, but doesn't mean anything when radioed in by a police officer.
- Technically speaking, "4/20" doesn't exist in Europe. Because Europeans write their dates as day, month and year, so April 20 is written out as "20/4."
- Fittingly, California's senate bill number for the state's "Medical Marijuana Program Act" is called "SB 420." The California flag also depicts a bear walking on "grass."
- 420 doesn't refer to the number of chemicals in cannabis. But it's not too far off; marijuana contains approximately 500 different chemical constituents.
- The bible verse Daniel 4:20 is about a "tree." "The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the wild animals, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds--Your Majesty, you are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth."
There ya have it.. Some extra dinner conversation LOL Happy 420!