Okay, let’s have a show of hands out there.  How many parents know what the number 420 stands for in current popular culture?  Anyone?  No?  Okay, what if we break it down into its common parlance, four-twenty?  Still nobody?

With paucity of parental hand waving, perhaps the better question is how many of our teens recognize this term.  It’s a safe bet many would be able to tell you it’s a reference to the drug marijuana and to the date of National Get High Day.

National Get High Day!  Wait, when did Congress pass that resolution?

Obviously, there is no official recognition of National Get High Day. Government offices will remain open on April 20^th and the mail will still be delivered.  However, as this date has taken on significance, as youth continue to revel in code words to fool parents (why is my son wearing a tee-shirt with 420 on it?), and as popular entertainment sources continue to propagate the 420 myth, the Adversary will widen his grasp to ensnare the unsuspecting.

WHAT IS 420

Most individuals familiar with the drug subculture know 420 has something to do with illegal drug use, but when pressed, they never seem to know why, or even what the term supposedly signifies.  As a result, the origins and actual significance of 420 are legion while also being easily disprovable urban legends.

Various explanations include:

420 is the police radio code for possession of marijuana – In reality, there is no 420 police code for anything.

There are 420 chemicals in marijuana – Marijuana actually consists of 315 different chemical compounds .

Variously, April 20^th is claimed as the date Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, or Bob Marley died. Though strongly identified with drug use none of these popular counter culture performers met their demise on April 20^th. Morrison died July 3^rd, Hendrix September 18^th, Joplin October 4^th, and Marley May 11^th.

April 20^th is often also mistakenly claimed as the date of Adolf Hitler died.  In actuality, Hitler died on April 30^th.  April 20^th, however, is the date he was born.

D is the 4^th letter of the alphabet and T is the 20^th.  The claim is that DT stands for dubie time – a slang term for a marijuana cigarette.

The second line of the first verse in the children's nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence reads: "Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie".  The term baked is a slang term for somebody under the influence of marijuana.

While most of these are clearly nonsense, the earliest accepted reference to 420 appears to be connected to a dozen kids who attended San Rafael High School in California in 1971.  Always pronounced as four-twenty, the term was a bit of casual slang used as a reminder of the time they were supposed to meet by a local water tower and smoke dope each afternoon (I imagine the brain cells killed by smoking marijuana probably made this daily repetition necessary).  While possibly originated by this small group, the accepted argot appears to have spread quickly throughout youth and drug culture. 

The term has now become so pervasive, it has come to not only represent a time, but also a rallying date for an informal, yet recognized show of solidarity between those who partake of the drug.

SUPPORTED BY HOLLYWOOD

Everybody looking to be cool enjoys being in the know when it comes to inside jokes.  Hollywood movies, and radio’s shock-jocks are no exceptions:

Many youth oriented radio stations play a Mandatory Marley song at 4:20 every afternoon to celebrate the marijuana smoking reggae musician.  These segments are often referred to as smoke breaks or bong breaks.

Highway 420 Radio broadcasts music for the chemically enhanced.

The high school football game in the stoner glorifying film Fast Times At Ridgemont High ended in a score of 42-0. 

In the stylized movie Pulp Fiction, all the clocks were set to 4:20 (with one exception) as a nod to pot-heads in the audience.

The colorized DVD version of the anti-marijuana/exploitation classic Reefer Madness was released on DVD on April 20, 2004.

And, if we accept the term 420 originated in 1971 at San Rafael High School, then why in the world does 1951’s Alice In Wonderland show the hallucinatory Mad Hatter with the numbers 420 printed on a piece of paper stuck in his hat?

BACK TO REALITY

All of the above is fairly bizarre and ultimately irrelevant.  However, the allure of a gateway drug such as marijuana, and the anti-parent counter culture surrounding it can not be ignored if we are to protect our youth.

Today, 420 is used either as a generic term for marijuana or an easy way to show involvement with others who smoke the drug.  Its connection with the time a certain group of students congregated to smoke wacky tobaccy has been lost in a cloud of the dope’s own smoke.  The overwhelming majority of those who use the term today associate it with one or more of the spurious explanations now attached to this slang term. 

The term, the drug it represents, and its enticement to be part of the in crowd, surrounds our youth in these latter days.  It is as pervasive as pornography, and just as insidious.  Various fun-loving cities sponsor yearly hemp fests on April 20^th – hemp being a form of marijuana. 4:20 is the name of a popular youth band, and an independent California record label.  You can also find 420 Pale Ale in supermarkets produced by Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Co. You can purchase economy trips to Jamaica and the Netherlands (where marijuana is legal) through New York’s 420 Tour Company.

It may seem fun to hunt for 420 references in popular movies, but recently, the number has taken on a dark side. The massacre of 13 victims at Columbine High School in Colorado occurred on the 20^th of April 1999.  This incident clearly resonates deeply with high school age youth.  Many have gone further and connected the April 20^th date to the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing – both of which actually occurred on April 19^th.  They sit waiting for another disaster.

Without loving parental support and proper guidance from our youth organizations, turning to drugs to blunt anger, desperation, or alienation can appear to be an attractive alternative.  The four-twenty date, as it relates to Columbine and other tragedies, can give disaffected youth yet another reason to turn their backs and hide from a world that terrifies them.

THE REAL THREAT

This April 20^th will all of our youth suddenly turn into drug addled extras from Reefer Madness?  Highly unlikely.  Are there youth within our stewardship as parents and leaders who may individually be drawn away to become lost sheep through the influences of 420 and the marijuana culture?  If we are not watching, if we are not aware, if we don’t provide them with an alternative . . . if we don’t love them – well, you answer the question.

This April 20^th don’t be a belated April fool.  Turn the Adversary’s hand against him.  Do something fun with your kids.  Keep them busy. Talk to them.  More importantly listen to them.  Show them you love them.  Let’s do our part to make April 20^th a family day and send 420 and its origins back to the obscurity from which it rose.

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A twenty-eight-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul Bishop currently directs a Sexual Assault Detail with responsibility for investigations in more than twenty-five percent of the city. His career has included a tour with the department's Anti-Terrorist Division and more than twenty years' experience investigating sex crimes. Twice honored as Detective of the Year, he has also received the Quality and Productivity Commission Award from the city of Los Angeles.

As a writer, Paul has written nine novels, numerous scripts for episodic television, and a feature film. His non-fiction byline has appeared in numerous publications, and his short stories in a wide selection of anthologies.

Along with police work and writing, Paul makes time for his family, church, running marathons, and collecting sports fiction.