"Mary Jane" when referring to marijuana.
Nowadays that seems pretty "square-man" But the language developed in the sub-culture has not really changed all that much. Lingo or codes are used that many folks just don't get, and parents tend to lay a blind eye towards. Sure, if you look in little Johnny's bedroom and see a Canadian Flag with a three-pointed leaf in the middle, chances are he may be more familiar with the illegal substance than you wish.
Hidden in your child's bedroom is one thing, but to advertise it in public is another. Today, the marijuana culture has a new set of codes, which is usually in plain view for all to see. It is the use of the number 420. Have you seen it?
You can see 420 in advertising, high school yearbooks, and storefronts. Smoke shops have popped up in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia with the number 420 in their registered business name. So big deal, what's in a name?
Plenty.
The phenomena of the number 420 in the marijuana sub-culture is a universal moment in time, a time when all potheads stop and light up! If they are awake at 4:20AM, they can light up and puff away. Many pot smokers take solace in the fact that at that very moment of the day, they will be smoking with maybe thousands of other stoners throughout the country. The number 420 has become the transforming universal code into the collective consciousness of the stoner.
So why 420? I started to ask around, and found that most people whether young or old never took notice, and could not answer that daunting question; Why 420? One gal told me it was to celebrate Bob Marley’s birthday, meaning he was born on April 20th. But our Jamaican friend was born on February 5th, 1945. One other told me it was Tommy Chong’s birthday, the famous Edmontonian from the “Cheech and Chong” drugged out comedy team, but again Tommy was born on May 24th, 1938. Missed again. “Hey man... what gives!” Looking for more famous stoners to give credence to the secret dopers code 420, I was then told it was to commemorate the exact time of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead’s death.
Garcia died on August 4th, 1995 at 4:23 AM. Oooh close! Maybe it takes three minutes to roll your own. Still no fit. A check of famous birthdates and I discovered that Adolf Hitler was born April 20th, 1889, but I’m sure that most pot smokers are not skin-heads. Still no fit. Whatever the origins, the pot-smoker does not know the reason for the observance only that it is the universal code that identifies a member of that particular sub-culture. One of the first lessons smokers learn is that while the meaning of 420 is “obvious” to insiders as “universal” or as an “international symbol” for marijuana, marijuana-smoking, and the subculture, it also a secret code or secret advertiser. A method of attracting the customers of likemindednes to an individual or business.
The mere presence of 420 on a business store front sends the wrong message to the youth, since if pot-smoking was illegal they wouldn't let a respectable businessperson to “set-up shop.” This became all to apparent when during my informal public survey of “420”, one young lady in her late 20’s said to me, “Marijuana legal now!” It’s not legal, it’s not even decriminalized!
So why are smoke shops allowed to open up in a city or town and sell drug paraphernalia, in essence promoting pot smoking? In the wacked out 60’s, drug users made their bongs and pipes. The truth of the matter is this. If a particular business is advertising "420" the universal stoner code in their business, chances are that they promote stoner culture and with
it, the consumption of an illegal drug. Take a look around your hometown or when you drive through a city, and you will find “420” proudly displayed on some smoke shops on store fronts and malls. Walk in and ask the store clerk, “What’s with 420?” You will instantly identify yourself as an outsider to the subculture, and I doubt a truthful answer will be forthcoming.
Come to think of it, the international pot-smokers day is April 20th - 4/20.
