420 blaze it!
If you know your marijuana, you know that 420 means smoking weed. According to legend, the term emerged in 1971, when five high school students in San Rafael, California, used 420 as a secret code to set up a rendezvous to meet up and get stoned.
The term morphed into smoking pot at 4:20, and eventually into toking up on 4/20 — April 20, which became an unofficial holiday of sorts.
Now, Willie Nelson is calling on President Joe Biden to declare April 20 an official marijuana holiday and even devote the entire week to celebrating cannabis.
“Nelson and the Texas-based concert team started a petition that’s gained more than 2,000 signatures calling on the president to recognize April 20, also known as 4/20, as the kickoff to a national holiday that will end on April 29 each year to commemorate the singer and marijuana advocate’s birthday,” Fox News reported.
“April 20th, known in these parts as 4/20, has long been celebrated as a holiday in smokey circles throughout this fine country, but in reality for cannabis users, one day just isn’t enough. In fact, for us, the ‘High Holidays” begin on 4/20 and end on 4/29, the birthday of the legendary Willie Nelson,” reads the petition, addressed to Biden and Congress.
“The fine people of Luck, Texas, and supporters of the great Willie Nelson, on behalf of cannabis users around the nation, are writing today to ask you to consider declaring the 9 days spanning April 20 to April 29 an official national holiday: the ‘High Holidays.’
“We believe that recognition of the ‘High Holidays’ opens the door to much needed dialogue supporting the many benefits of cannabis while helping to remove the unjustified stigmas currently surrounding this amazing plant.”
“Please puff, puff, and pass this to your friends in Congress for consideration. When you do, reflect on the immortal words of Willie: ‘I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?’ – Willie Nelson.”
While the petition is jokey, more than 2,000 people have already signed it. And as it says, the petition aims to “remove the unjustified stigmas” about marijuana, which has been legalized in a slew of states across the U.S.
The petition accompanies an event that Nelson’s Luck Reunion team called the “Luck Summit: Planting the Seed,” billed as the first annual cannabis convention. The event starts on April 20 and aims to “destigmatize, educate, and promote cannabis culture in an informative and entertaining way.”
The summit will include cannabis advocates discussing “the plant from a political, ethics, economic, wellness, community, industry and science point of view. Expect a lot of laughs and a few surprises along the way.”
That site includes a quote from Nelson, 87: “Just about every person who’s ever heard my name or my music knows that I smoke pot. I know that displeases some people, but I still think that’s better than making excuses about who I am and what I do.”