Everything is better with a bag of weed

April 20, 2012 5:59 AM

Let's go smoke some pot! Started by a group of high school stoners looking for a pot field in the 70's, the 420 meme has propagated to cover the globe. 420 Tours, 420 communities, Senate Bill 420 which legalized medical marijuana in California, 420 is everywhere. Sure, there's plenty of 420 buzzkills; the 1775 Siege of Boston, the 1914 Ludlow Massacre, the day Americans learned about 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre, and of course Hitler's birthday. But don't let it get you down man, everything is better with a bag of weed.
posted by dejah420 (183 comments total)

Can we limit this thread to 420 comments?
posted by fuq at 6:07 AM on April 20, 2012 [8 favorites]

Can we limit today's 420 comments to this thread?
posted by thewestinggame at 6:10 AM on April 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

oh right. i forgot todays date.
posted by fuzzypantalones at 6:14 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm thinking the maximum number of comments allowed for this thread should be 420.
posted by triceryclops at 6:15 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

*holds breath, slowly exhales through pursed lips*
posted by TedW at 6:17 AM on April 20, 2012

Because it's fun to mess with stoners, I think we should attempt to make every FPP today about delicious snack foods.
posted by schmod at 6:18 AM on April 20, 2012 [24 favorites]

Today is my birthday. My dad is a middle school teacher. It took him awhile to figure out why they'd always laugh when he told them that it's his daugher's birthday today.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:19 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

The number of comments shalt count to 420, no more, no less. 420 shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be 420. 421 shalt thou not count, neither count thou 419, excepting that thou then proceed to 420. 422 is right out.

*puff, puff, pass*
posted by three blind mice at 6:21 AM on April 20, 2012 [15 favorites]

And don't forget Neil Diamond's addition to the weed smoking culture: The Pot Smoker's Song.
posted by NoMich at 6:21 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Although I'm not a participant, I endorse any holiday that doesn't have a Hallmark card or mattress sale.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:22 AM on April 20, 2012 [19 favorites]

So four hundred and twenty comments and not one more.
posted by Sailormom at 6:22 AM on April 20, 2012

I'm so weird that when it was 1620 in my timezone I wanted to do a screencap of the computer's clock going 4.20 4/20
posted by infini at 6:25 AM on April 20, 2012

Just by the strangest of coincidences this is my wedding anniversary. I never remember personal dates, birthdays, shit like that. But what with Hitler and 4:20, the Internet always reminds me just in time... Woke up my wife at 12:05 last night with a little speech about our love, and she was so touched that I remembered... serendipity, excellent golden lucky day :)
posted by Meatbomb at 6:25 AM on April 20, 2012 [8 favorites]

Oh, and also happy birthday George Takei.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:27 AM on April 20, 2012 [5 favorites]

Oh god, not this again.
posted by Think_Long at 6:27 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

If you're looking for more tunes for the day, here's HIGH TIMES' TOP 25 POT SONGS OF ALL TIME to get you started.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:27 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm hoping this means that the library won't be crowded today when I go in to work on a research paper.
posted by codacorolla at 6:32 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

When pot becomes legal - fear for America as the leadership feels that having the population stoned and not motivated than being motivated and able to think.

And worry not slackagogo - once its legal there will be cards. To increase the collectibility of the 1st year of the cards, stick the MJ Tax stamp you have in the card.

(remember the the Free Marijuana Church? )
posted by rough ashlar at 6:34 AM on April 20, 2012

I endorse any holiday that doesn't have a Hallmark card or mattress sales event.

Also, it took me a surprisingly long time to figure out why this was posted.
posted by DU at 6:34 AM on April 20, 2012

And yesterday was Bicycle Day.
posted by symbioid at 6:36 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

I have a sore throat, fever, chills and body aches.

I haven't smoked in ages, but oh my god I wish I had some right now so I could sleep and be in less pain.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:37 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sure, there's plenty of 420 buzzkills...

To discourage students from lighting up, the university has decided to fertilize the grassy area of Norlin quad on Friday.
"We're trying to do things to make it not a fun place to be," said Hilliard. "We are using a fish-based fertilizer. It is a rather foul-smelling emulsifier.
posted by 445supermag at 6:38 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

for a more serious take on 420, please experience some of our more religious songs.
posted by Mach5 at 6:41 AM on April 20, 2012

For some reason I had a vision of that weed being delivered by an orange cat.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:41 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Obligatory: John Prine - Illegal Smile
posted by krinklyfig at 6:42 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh god, not this again.

Yeah, happens every year, like Christmas, but less commercial and more spiritual.
posted by terrapin at 6:42 AM on April 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

How could you not love a drug that makes things more interesting?
posted by Trurl at 6:42 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Happy B'day TPS.

Today is the one day a year I make the midnight run to the Taco Bell for some Doritos tacos!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:43 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

For some reason I had a vision of that weed being delivered by an orange cat.

Great, now I'm going to spend Friday night re-reading all of FFFB. Thanks a lot.
posted by griphus at 6:47 AM on April 20, 2012

I remember, growing up in NYC, that May 1 was the day to celebrate pot-smoking. "May Day is J Day!," the fliers read, advertising a smoke-in in Central Park. Then, after I moved to D.C., I learned that July 4 is locally celebrated, with a smoke-in in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House.

Truly a moveable feast.
posted by the sobsister at 6:50 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is just to say
I ate those plums
Were they your plums? I thought I bought them.
Whoa, man, you know what would be fucking killer with those plums? Some ice cream.
Like, vanilla ice cream? Or maybe even cookie dough?
No, I think the bodega down the street has Ben and Jerry's.
Fuck you, "Ben and Jerry's is overrated." Man, if anything, they're UNDERrated
Because some of us take our ice cream SERIOUSLY, bro
Yes, I know they were sold to a German corporation, that doesn't make the ice cream worse.
Well they're still using the same process, and all
Okay you want a pint?
HEY
Peel yourself away from The Clone Wars for a sec, I'm asking you do you want a pint
No, I'm going to the bodega anyway, I can pick you up some too
No, I'm not sharing my pint, you can have your own
Chocolate? OK
Oh, man, you know what would be fucking great with chocolate ice cream, is plums
We should get some fucking PLUMS
posted by Greg Nog at 6:50 AM on April 20, 2012 [69 favorites]

You get the ice cream, I'll get more plums.
posted by rtha at 6:54 AM on April 20, 2012

Pot is mostly benign and harmless, and I wish they would legalize it, which would solve a lot of problems, I think.

HOWEVER.

Pot smoking culture? All you red-eyed dopes (pardon the pun) running around with your gigantor bongs and glo-lite posters and sticks of incense and Funyuns and hemp underwear and whatnot? Could you please leave me alone? Please?
posted by KHAAAN! at 6:54 AM on April 20, 2012 [8 favorites]

You come on over here, KHAAAN! We'll sit in the sun in the backyard and watch the hummingbirds.
posted by rtha at 6:57 AM on April 20, 2012 [9 favorites]

That High Times list is incomplete without The Devil Went to Jamaica.
posted by jquinby at 6:57 AM on April 20, 2012

If you're going to mention music, you can't leave out Green Day.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:58 AM on April 20, 2012

Funyuns

I have only ever even handled marijuana when it was inside a plastic evidence bag in a courtroom, and I will fight you to the death for speaking ill of Funyuns.

Also, the "Everything is..." in the thread title just made me want to listen to "Everything is Beautiful" by Ray Stevens, which I think might make me the biggest square is Squaresville.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:59 AM on April 20, 2012

For some reason I had a vision of that weed being delivered by an orange cat.

Delivered? FF's cat probably falls under "buzz kill" (interestingly, iOS insists that's two words.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:59 AM on April 20, 2012

We'll sit in the sun in the backyard and watch the hummingbirds.

I had a friend who would bring over a CD of The Wall so we could honestly claim to be staring at it.
posted by infini at 7:01 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

That High Times list is terrible. How could they fail to include Sleep's hour-long anthem "Dopesmoker", in which even a square like me can find something to like?
posted by uphc at 7:01 AM on April 20, 2012 [6 favorites]

In the mother country, it's 20/4. And we don't smoke pot or Mary Jane, we smoke cannabis (or solids, green, herb, weed, spliff etc... just never pot). Nor do we have hummingbirds.

However, we do have the entire Revolver-onwards output of the Beatles.

Gissa bang on that bifta, matey.
posted by Devonian at 7:06 AM on April 20, 2012 [5 favorites]

There's an awesome Southern BBQ place here called Holy Smoke. It's street address is #420 :D
posted by Calzephyr at 7:17 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

My high school newspaper was named, apparently unironically, The High Times.
posted by workerant at 7:17 AM on April 20, 2012

I think I would enjoy smoking pot. I did it once in my early 20's and it was great. My problem is that I'm in my 30's now and although I live in a first ring suburb of a major city and I know there is plenty of pot available in the area, I just don't know how to go about finding someone to buy it from and it isn't the kind of thing I'm comfortable just asking around about.

I hope it gets legalized soon just so I can go to a damn store and buy the stuff.
posted by VTX at 7:19 AM on April 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

I think my neighborhood got an early start on this yesterday evening.
posted by Mavri at 7:19 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

KHAAAN!: Pot smoking culture? All you red-eyed dopes (pardon the pun) running around with your gigantor bongs and glo-lite posters and sticks of incense and Funyuns and hemp underwear and whatnot? Could you please leave me alone? Please?

Just what is the life you lead that results in getting harassed over-mellow stoners? I've never seen marijuana culture leak very far outside of places you'd really have to intentionally go in order to experience. Like, are you complaining you got offered a drag at Burning Man, or...?
posted by gilrain at 7:19 AM on April 20, 2012 [13 favorites]

Let's not forget Shel Silverstein's "The Smoke Off."
posted by arahantrain at 7:20 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thanks to seamless web you don't even have to endure a conversation with your equally stoned local pizza place person.
posted by The Whelk at 7:23 AM on April 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

This is one of my favorite contemporary Christmas stories.
posted by griphus at 7:25 AM on April 20, 2012

Also, a Gigantor bong would be a top-seller.
posted by griphus at 7:29 AM on April 20, 2012

Pot is much too potent for me these days, and it pisses me off.

In my small high school in the mid 90's, our resident stoner began scribbling 4-20 on the bathroom walls. The administration concluded that the school was now infested with street gangs.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:29 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Let's all listen to albums and read soft 60s era sci fi!
posted by The Whelk at 7:31 AM on April 20, 2012

Pot is much too potent for me these days, and it pisses me off.

Personally, I'd rather get lifted off half a bowl than torch my throat with toke after toke all night long.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:34 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

>Pot is much too potent for me these days, and it pisses me off.

Urban legend.

Pot isn't more potent these days. If anything, it's less potent overall, due to the introduction of medicinal indica strains.

As was pointed out on a recent thread somewhere in the Blue, 60s stoners had access to powerful Mexican sativas. And GIs smoked potent Thai sticks in Asia.

Greater pot potency hasn't been the main goal of growers for a long while. Some cultivators pursue it. But most are seeking better medicinal benefits, better flavors, better hybrid balance between indica and sativa strains, and the like.

The "greater potency" argument is the provenance of myth and political blowhards.

or so I'm told . .
posted by Gordion Knott at 7:38 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Really terrapin, I can agree with the less commercial, but spiritual? I'm going to need more proof than a bunch of giggly teens listening to poorly written songs and getting the munchies.
posted by evilDoug at 7:40 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

As was pointed out on a recent thread somewhere in the Blue, 60s stoners had access to powerful Mexican sativas.

Not to mention the availability of quality hashish, which on the west coast now seems to have become a relatively rare occurence.
posted by Lorin at 7:42 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

evilDoug: a bunch of giggly teens listening to poorly written songs and getting the munchies

How very belittling of you to say.
posted by gilrain at 7:43 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

I've had discussions with people who lived through the sixties who say the only thing they've noticed is that today's pot smells a lot better but that could be a lot of things.
posted by The Whelk at 7:45 AM on April 20, 2012

arahantrain: "Let's not forget Shel Silverstein's "The Smoke Off.""

My mom is on the cover of Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball. One of those weird bits of trivia I never get to share.
posted by dejah420 at 7:46 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

It's not that everything is better with weed, it's that everything feels better with weed. The world stays the same--you change. Which is a mixed blessing depending on the world to which you experience returning. Regardless, enjoy 420 or 204 or just enjoy the weekend where ever you are.
posted by rmhsinc at 7:48 AM on April 20, 2012

Here in Colorado, we are apparently at the forefront of the legalization effort. The medical marijuana thing is rampant. The local alt/weekly "Westword" is full of MMJ ads (more than the sex ads even), and they even have a "daily deal" like groupon for MMJ. Our next election will have a legalization measure on it, and the democratic party has put legalization on their platform. 54 % of replublicans support legalization, but the republican party has put the anti-legalization stance on their platform 'cause, you know, the other guys are for it. The Boulder thing is funny. A few years ago there was a big stink (heh) because the campus police were going to take pictures of everyone, and they were threatening disciplinary action and expulsion to those they caught openly smoking pot on campus. Now this, but hey, free Wyclef Jean concert for students! So go get stoned, and go to the show!!!

Really, the prohibition of marijuana is absurd. I've never understood it. Then again, I work in the recreational alcoholic beverage industry, and don't understand the alcohol prohibition era either. I have faith that there will soon be sanity around this, and people will be able to grow their own and smoke a joint in peace.
posted by Eekacat at 7:48 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I've had discussions with people who lived through the sixties who say the only thing they've noticed is that today's pot smells a lot better but that could be a lot of things.

Can you drop a helpful note about this to my neighbor? Just a quick thing that says "pot doesn't have to smell like this" that or a list of places he can get the glands removed from his pet skunk, it's kind of an open question at this point.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:51 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Epony-giggle-inducing.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:55 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm hoping this means that the library won't be crowded today when I go in to work on a research paper.

Bad news. At my library, we've already had at least two students who have clearly waked and baked come in. I mean, I know the sign about the extended cafe hours during finals week is a little bit funny, what with the cartoon of a sandwich studying for a test, but it's not that funny. Nor should it spark a fifteen minute conversation about whether or not the dining hall is serving subs yet.

I might walk through Boston Common later today, but seeing as I need to pick up my kid from daycare this afternoon, I don't think I'll be able to relive any misspent youth.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:56 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Personally, I'd rather get lifted off half a bowl than torch my throat with toke after toke all night long.

Cookies are pretty awesome.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:58 AM on April 20, 2012

Gilrain, Sorry if you feel belittled. As far as I'm concerned no one needs any excuse at all to smoke dope. You want to do it today specifically because it's 4/20? Knock yourself out. However, you want to pretend there's a spiritual component to smoking dope on 4/20, I need more proof. Mean time, smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink, and dance the night away.
posted by evilDoug at 7:59 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Cookies are pretty awesome.

A mini-muffin tin is really helpful for "portion" control.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:02 AM on April 20, 2012

I haven't smoked dope in almost 20 years. Once in a while, I miss it terribly.

It's not legal because we are having a War on Drugs. To legalize it would be to admit defeat and give way to the artsy types and the communists. We must never let them win!

These colors don't run! USA! USA! USA!

If they did, we could have ended a lot of stupid wars a lot faster...
posted by double block and bleed at 8:03 AM on April 20, 2012

At my library, we've already had at least two students who have clearly waked and baked come in.

Of all places to go, why the library?
posted by griphus at 8:04 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

It was there, man.
posted by Edogy at 8:06 AM on April 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

It's quiet and smells so nice
posted by Greg Nog at 8:06 AM on April 20, 2012 [9 favorites]

To get a copy of Kerouac in the hope that it will finally make sense.
posted by double block and bleed at 8:06 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

evilDoug: However, you want to pretend there's a spiritual component to smoking dope on 4/20, I need more proof.

I don't pretend that at all, actually. I don't even smoke, these days, although I would if it were legal. I was just pointing out that you made your point in the most offensive, stereotyping way you could. No need to be hateful.

I'm an atheist, but I don't make a point about worship by saying "a bunch of washed-up know-nothings playing sing-along to badly-played music".
posted by gilrain at 8:07 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Of all places to go, why the library?

To look at the sandwich, dude. Look at it. It looks so sad.

You hungry?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:09 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Incidentally, evilDoug, there's a whole Wikipedia page about what you're asking after.
posted by Greg Nog at 8:10 AM on April 20, 2012

Dude, sometimes the library has collected Calvin and Hobbes books. That stuff is the shit.
posted by The Whelk at 8:10 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

In college, I had a Science Fiction Film class with a somewhat prominent film professor who, before showing us 2001, subtly implied that we should have shown up high.
posted by griphus at 8:13 AM on April 20, 2012

I always liked the letter to the editor in the old National Lampoon magazine (paraphrased):
Guys, you gotta try some of this weed. Two hits and you can't even
posted by wellvis at 8:13 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

BoomShanker! Jai bole Shanker!

GregNog beat me to it. (Though it was Holi recently iirc...)
posted by infini at 8:15 AM on April 20, 2012

It's 4:20 PM in London now...
posted by Trurl at 8:21 AM on April 20, 2012

For The Whelk
posted by toastchee at 8:22 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've never been a huge fan of music written about marijuana.

Now, music written and recorded under the influence of massive quantities of marijuana, on the other hand...
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:31 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Of all places to go, why the library?

Dude, books are AWESOME. Also, the feel of books, the smell of old books, and being among huge stacks of them is a wonderful, wonderful experience regardless of your intoxicatory state. Moreover, it's so much fun to find some weird old tomes in some forgotten corner of the library and pore over some esoteric knowledge.

I'm gonna to to the strand on my lunchbreak, I guess.

Finally, no list of songs for today can be complete without Jackie Wilson's Higher and Higher

And also a jungle remix
and also a breakbeats remix
And a super-fast, amazing live version
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:32 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

It's 4:20 PM in London now...
If only we had a 20th month...
posted by Quantum's Deadly Fist at 8:33 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

There are a lot of things that are really fun to do while high. Standing around in a campus field with hundreds of stoners while listening to five different Bob Marley songs all blasting from portable stereos is not one of them.
posted by rocket88 at 8:34 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Nthing the library. Stay out of places you gwaan fa spend money.
posted by maniabug at 8:40 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

You guys are really harshing my mellow right now...
posted by Big_B at 8:40 AM on April 20, 2012

I don't indulge anymore, but I'll tip a Sweetwater 420 IPA to those that do later this afternoon...
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:43 AM on April 20, 2012

ThePinkSuperhero: Today is my birthday. My dad is a middle school teacher. It took him awhile to figure out why they'd always laugh when he told them that it's his daughter's birthday today.

At least your name isn't Mary Jane.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 AM on April 20, 2012

Of all places to go, why the library?

Of all places to go, why NOT the library?
posted by blucevalo at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2012

Now, music written and recorded under the influence of massive quantities of marijuana, on the other hand...

An amusing Hollywood-ism in Sweet Smell of Success is Steve Dallas's outrage that people might now think him - a 1950s jazz musician - a... marijuana smoker!

Surely even the square culture of the time was aware that jazz musicians routinely smoked marijuana?
posted by Trurl at 8:51 AM on April 20, 2012

I'll tip a Sweetwater 420 IPA

Or a Lagunitas Kronik[Censored].
posted by uncleozzy at 8:57 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

When I was 18 someone I know was self medicating her ADHD with copious amounts of pot. I hear the library is awesome when you can hyperfocus on your homework instead of pulling books off the shelves about 18th century American architecture, cooking, the Roman Empire, and shoe making.

This is the perfect place for Rachel Goodrich to sing Hey girl give me all your money, I can take it to the next block and buy myself a bag of bitchin' pot.
posted by bilabial at 8:58 AM on April 20, 2012

I appreciate the joviality and ebullience of 420 observation. All day as you please. : )

I only wanted to add that marijuana has many therapeutic uses including relieving anxiety, self-consciousness, and depression. In a culture (North America early 21st century) that way overprescribes pharmaceutical antidepressants, I think this is important to mention.

To those of you who live in states where marijuana possession and intoxication (please don't operate your vehicles while high) carry heavy penalties: I hope your legislators and fellow citizens get together to (at least) decriminalize marijuana. I also invite you to visit states like California (Why, hello there!) and decide if moving might not be in your future.
posted by mistersquid at 9:02 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Smoking cannabis and going to the library is all sorts of good times!
Like an explorer, entering new waters. Tons of good reads to browse through at ones leisure.

...can't wait to get off of work and spark that already rolled blunt of some purps.
posted by handbanana at 9:04 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I am a high school teacher. How can I mess with my students tomorrow on 4/20?
posted by humph at 9:05 AM on April 20, 2012 [7 favorites]

Of all places to go, why the library?

I spent most of my twenties living alone in Northampton, MA without a car.

To be able to freely browse the Smith College library, within walking distance, was a cultural godsend.

I've never been in an academic library that I didn't like. But Smith's facility had a unique quality of cavernousness. And at some hours, it felt as if I had the entire place to myself. As an aspergian, that's my Happy Place.

If I'd had a source, I probably would have spent my enlightened hours watching rented VHS tapes from Pleasant St. Video - another cultural godsend - instead of going to the Smith library. But if I had been going to the library anyway, it would have been worth getting high for.
posted by Trurl at 9:16 AM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

I guess I should've asked why one would go to the library when they're with a friend. At the very least, trying to keep one's voice down and/or not constantly giggle (both of which these young men seemed to have totally failed at) is a potent buzzkill.
posted by griphus at 9:28 AM on April 20, 2012

(Looking back on it, I don't think robocop mentioned they were dudes.)
posted by griphus at 9:29 AM on April 20, 2012

That Reddit thread seriously makes me proud to be a teacher.
posted by absalom at 9:36 AM on April 20, 2012

I smoked on two occasions, both in college with this girl I had a Roman art class with. We'd go outside behind one of the dorms with her bong and a water bottle, and just smoke and look at the lake. I remember one of those times, I was at the campus center, using my laundry money to buy snacks, while she was talking about her crush on Wes Borland when he was in Limp Bizkit. The second time we sat around watching a Korean soap opera based on a Japanese manga.

Neither of us got very high grades in that class, and as much as I've wanted to at times, I haven't smoked since.

But I do miss her- she lives in Beijing now- and whenever I think of pot, I think of her, and of how nice it would be to try it again.
posted by bookwibble at 9:52 AM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

My favorite words of wisdom on cannabis are from Dale Pendell, Pharmako Poeia:

"Smoking it occasionally makes you wise; smoking it a lot turns you into a donkey." (p. 199 of my copy)
posted by bukvich at 9:55 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Don't forget John Hartford & the Dillards! (Now get off my lawn!)
posted by squalor at 10:02 AM on April 20, 2012

I got stoned and I missed it,
I got stoned and I missed it,
I got stoned and I missed it,
And it rolled on by…
posted by five fresh fish at 10:12 AM on April 20, 2012

Rainy day women Dylan & Dead 10-17-94

Bonus: Bob Weir is wearing those stupid ass short cut-offs.
posted by bukvich at 10:17 AM on April 20, 2012

Happy 420 MetaFilter, may your bowls runneth over.

Jane's Addiction - Slow Divers
posted by paradoxflow at 10:25 AM on April 20, 2012

> Just what is the life you lead that results in getting harassed over-mellow stoners?

Canadian. The stuff stinks horribly and chokingly. On the street, in the bus, filling the neighbourhood. I hate it. I prefer fresh air which we do generally get in this area from the ocean, so I'm pretty clear on the difference.
posted by Listener at 10:35 AM on April 20, 2012

I don't think putting your location in your profile is going to help you very much on that front, Listener. I bet three-quarters of the people following this thread just clicked on your profile to find out exactly where you live so that they, too, may live in a place where the amount of ambient pot smoke gets out of hand.
posted by griphus at 10:40 AM on April 20, 2012

I don't like the way griphus is using the mind actuatorizer without authorization again.
posted by infini at 10:42 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

he's immenantizing the HELL out of it.
posted by The Whelk at 10:48 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I would have guessed Vancouver BC just from that description.

I woke up pleasantly buzzed this morning. This medicine I use to ease my back pain sure is fun.

here's a good song to enjoy, if you're in the mood:
explosions in the sky - let me back in
posted by ninjew at 10:51 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

However, we do have the entire Revolver-onwards output of the Beatles.

No, sir. You have the entire Beatles for Sale-onwards output of the Beatles.
posted by Edison Carter at 10:53 AM on April 20, 2012

Would you rather deal with a bunch of raging alcoholics, or a bunch of potheads? If I were president, the first thing I would do is legalize it. You could save billions of dollars, and raise billions more, all while providing treatment for people who do become psychologically addicted. As Bill Hicks said, for a few years we could all live in a pizza based economy, with roads filled with delivery trucks waving at each other going 20 mph.

It would be a hell of a lot better than accepting 15,000 alcohol related traffic deaths and the untold millions of people who have been abused by alcoholics. But hey, who's counting? Let's get back to mocking people who like to hang out with their friends and have a good time without killing or fighting or abusing anyone. Because they are the ones being ridiculous, amirite?
posted by deanklear at 10:54 AM on April 20, 2012 [9 favorites]

Is an escha-ton more or less than a metric tonne?
posted by uncleozzy at 11:14 AM on April 20, 2012

Just to balance things out, one of the worst songs ever written about pot. It's especially bad considering the brilliance of the first half of that album.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:21 AM on April 20, 2012

So for the last day or so, the CBC has been running a story about how pissed off some parents are that the Vancouver school board has scheduled a professional development day for April 20th, which means classes are cancelled:

The coincidence angers Inge Mueller-Langer, the parent of two teenagers. "I don’t think it's very responsible. I think the school should instead be educating our children about the potential long-term effects of smoking pot when you are a teenager," Mueller-Langer told CBC News. "This isn’t the same stuff we had in the '60s and '70s." CBC News has obtained absence reports [link] from the Vancouver School Board that show an additional 900 students skipped class on Wednesday, April 20, last year, when compared with Wednesday, April 13.

It doesn't seem like having school in session last year prevented all those students from skipping out. I'm not convinced that the kids who will be at the 4:20 gathering today wouldn't have skipped school anyway even without a pro-D day.

The head of the school board’s drug prevention program, Art Steinmann...said that although there are no classes, the Vancouver School Board is co-hosting a free concert all afternoon at East Vancouver’s Rio Theatre in an attempt to discourage students from heading to the 4/20 event.

posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:28 AM on April 20, 2012

A cartoon for the occasion. (slyt)
posted by Val_E_Yum at 11:29 AM on April 20, 2012

"This isn’t the same stuff we had in the '60s and '70s."

Get the boogeyman out of here. Do people who drink vodka get more drunk than people who drink beer?
posted by Meatbomb at 11:35 AM on April 20, 2012

"I think the school should instead be educating our children about the potential long-term effects of smoking pot when you are a teenager,"

If only there was some other interested party that could teach that parent's teenagers about drugs. It really seems like there should some kind of adult who is responsible for those kids until they're adults.

Any ideas?
posted by VTX at 11:39 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Exactly, Meatbomb. People smoke what they need to to get high. For casual smokers, it can just mean a few puffs.
And when parents use the "increased potency" there is a weird underlying implication that if pot were as "weak" as it was decades ago, it would be OK. But I hazard to guess that if their children started smoking less-potent weed, the parents wouldn't suddenly be OK with it.
posted by beau jackson at 11:40 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Any ideas?

How about parents? I for one would be pissed if my kids were getting former pot smoker Inge Mueller-Langer's brand of reefer madness FUD at school. Hey Inge Mueller-Langer, go parent your kids.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:42 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Do people who drink vodka get more drunk than people who drink beer?

Drink vodka like you drink beer, you'll get pretty sick, maybe die. Smoke chronic like you'd smoke schwag and you'll, what? Eat too many Mike & Ikes and fall asleep?
posted by uncleozzy at 11:43 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

...a friend of mine once underestimated the potency of some space food and spent a good hour going back and forth on the Times Square shuttle.
posted by The Whelk at 11:45 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

This puts me in mind of an event I heard about (but never attended, alas) in Lambeth in the early 80s.

It was called the Easter Fly, and it was a competition with various rounds and a grand prize. All the rounds had a smoking theme - most imaginative joint, best-rolled three-skinner, timed eventing - with the grand prize nominally being given to the team with the best overall score.

My friend (now a lifelong pal, due in no small part to compatible appetites) took part. He describes much jollity - joints delivered to the judging panel by modified radio-controlled toys, a six-pronged and entirely smokable menorah-style cigarette, a cardboard Concorde with four suitably shaped 'engines' that flew, briefly and dangerously... but he kept his powder dry, so to speak, for the Most Powerful Bong leg.

For that, he took a one-gallon demijohn which he had prepared earlier (*) by sawing off the base. In the stopper, he arranged a simple set of one-way valves, tubing and a bowl.

He then requested that the head judge have a bath, which she was happy to do (bubbles protecting some of her modesty). Then he introduced the demijohn to the bath, letting it rest on the bottom and thus being mostly filled with bath water. He filled and lit the bowl, and asked the judge to prepare to inhale.

With one smooth action (as he tells it), he pulled the demijohn upwards until it was almost clear of the water. The water draining out of the device created a powerful, smooth suction which effectively incinerated the bowl's contents, filling the demijohn with thick white smoke. He then let the demijohn sink back down - the rising water level pushed the smoke out through the valves, which diverted the flow through the inhalation tube and into the lungs of the judge, in about fifteen seconds.

The judge was rendered speechless and subsequently unable to leave the bath for around ten minutes.

By common acclaim, my friend was awarded the grand prize.

(*) - "Here's one I prepared earlier" was a catchphrase from iconic BBC childrens' programme called Blue Peter. In some British circles, a 'Blue Peter' now refers to a joint made ahead of time, usually for a gig or other event where just-in-time supply chain management may not be appropriate.
posted by Devonian at 11:45 AM on April 20, 2012 [11 favorites]

By the way of a completely unscientific study on mobile phone covers, I have actually assessed the relative merits of various plant matter on different continents. While I was only allowed access to bottles of milk in these 60s that are spoken of, I can definitely conclude that while we may have no chronological evidence of variations in quality, we certainly have geographic ones.
posted by infini at 11:47 AM on April 20, 2012

Dad's Home
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:48 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Or something to that effect.

What was the question again?
posted by infini at 11:49 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

You want to smell the stink of pot, griphus, move to Burnaby, New West, east side of Vancouver, at the very least, probably many more. Burn(out)by is actually worse than where I live.
posted by Listener at 11:49 AM on April 20, 2012

beau jackson: "And when parents use the "increased potency" there is a weird underlying implication that if pot were as "weak" as it was decades ago, it would be OK."

It's worth mentioning that even with today's most potent strains, Cannabis is far less dangerous, in terms of LD50, than table salt.
posted by mullingitover at 11:51 AM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

TONIGHT ON CHANNEL 11 CONSUMER WATCHDOG REPORTS:

WHICH COMMON HOUSEHOLD PRODUCT IS DEADLIER THAN MARIJUANA? AND CAN YOUR KIDS GET THEIR HANDS ON IT?

FIND OUT AFTER THE BREAK.
posted by griphus at 11:58 AM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think it is very irresponsible to take the dangers of cannabis usage so lightly.

I personally knew one person who died after smoking too much cannabis, and several whose life was permanently altered.

An uncle started smoking when he was 12 years old. He smoked every day except during lent. He smoked more and more until he could no longer afford to buy the drug, so he was forced to grow his own plants at great risk. This happened in rural Mexico, where the quality of cannabis at the time was very low, and he was trying to develop a more potent sweeter smelling strain. One time one of his nephews brought him this super potent Canadian strain that smelled like berries when burning. My uncle smoked his usual amount, went to bed and never woke up again. He died in his sleep. He was only ninety seven years old.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 12:03 PM on April 20, 2012 [17 favorites]

Ayn Rand and God: My uncle smoked his usual amount, went to bed and never woke up again. He died in his sleep. He was only ninety seven years old.

And the coroner attributed the death to marijuana?
posted by gilrain at 12:04 PM on April 20, 2012

Wait, I think I may have missed a joke there. Sorry, Ayn.
posted by gilrain at 12:05 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

re libraries:

The best place to go when one is getting paranoid or overwhelmed by the sensory overload. Libraries are usually quiet, everyone minds their own business, it is easy to find a solitary spot to sit down and relax, and best of all, there are thousands of books with millions of pictures! I spent hundreds of hours juts looking at art history books and nature picture books.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 12:07 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

So smoking leads to living a long and blissful life?
posted by infini at 12:07 PM on April 20, 2012

gilrain: The coroner said he should not be cremated or we would have birds crashing into houses all week long.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 12:09 PM on April 20, 2012 [13 favorites]

Last comment before I go have lunch:

So smoking leads to living a long and blissful life?

I would never say that. To anyone. All I can say is that smoking pot does not seem to be an impediment to living a long and blissful life, but it seems to make living a short and brutal life way more fun.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 12:11 PM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

“Who can know the thoughts of Mary Jane…”
posted by nfg at 12:46 PM on April 20, 2012

*bubbling noises*
posted by egypturnash at 12:55 PM on April 20, 2012

30 min early man
posted by The Whelk at 12:57 PM on April 20, 2012

EIGHTEEN MINUTES.

Until I have to go to another meeting.
posted by kbanas at 1:02 PM on April 20, 2012

My high school newspaper was named, apparently unironically, The High Times.

Mine was The Hi-Times. When it was pointed out to our adviser that perhaps this wasn't best name if you wanted to sell ads ("Hello, would you like to place an ad in The Hi-Times?" "CLICK."), she retorted that we had the name first, and we weren't going to change it.
posted by Rangeboy at 1:05 PM on April 20, 2012

I have to say, though, I have a friend (who shall remain nameless) who just went through the legalization process here in the great state of Michigan, and I asked for the full run-down, because, well, hell, I was curious.

This person apparently was referred to a doctor. They paid the doctor $100. They told the doctor they had a sore neck. The doctor signed off after 30 seconds of cursory examination.

They mailed off their paperwork, and three weeks later they were street legal.

I live in Ann Arbor, which is quite the progressive sort of burg, but I was shocked when this person brought up a map and showed me the various "medical centers" around town where you can stop in and simply buy product.

Here's a website for one of the places. Based on the pictures, it does not all look like what I thought it would look like.

It's all very interesting. Nothing I do myself, but why we're spending $294829482948429482498 trillion to try to stop it is mind boggling.
posted by kbanas at 1:06 PM on April 20, 2012

That link didn't work at all.

Here is the link I was trying to post.
posted by kbanas at 1:07 PM on April 20, 2012

Well I am in the Great Lakes State as well, and yes, you have to go to one of those centers. The reason why is the majority of our doctors will.not.sign.off on the paper work due to their affiliation with a hosptial system or insurance reasons. In fact Henry Ford advised doctors NOT to do so.

When I went to get my card, and my renewal, my doctor had three years of documented healthcare records, MRI images, and CT scans. He examined me, and discussed with me why I was interested in cannabis. I told him it helps me as it does, and I simply can't get my PCP to sign off. He spent a good 25 minutes with me, even more than my normal doctor spends and had reviewed my records prior to me getting there.

Are there doctors out there just signing off for the sake of an easy $100? Yes, but they are putting themselves on the line where other doctors won't. Shit, my PCP scripts much more dangerous drugs, and yet a "recommendation" to use cannabis is like twisting an arm. No problem giving me stomach bleeding drugs and opiates, but beware of the devils weed!

4 more minutes.... I wish I wasnt at work, but I will be smoking in t minus 48 Minutes from now.
posted by handbanana at 1:16 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have to say, it's all kinds of awesome to be able to walk into a nice place (well, mine is nice, maybe there are some that aren't), look at displays, decide what to get, pay for it, and walk out. Just like, you know, going to a regular store where they sell stuff that you can buy.

Also, in honor of the day and because it still makes me laugh (even when I'm not high!), I will link to this spectacularly wonderful comment from loquacious.
posted by rtha at 1:18 PM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

And at 4:27 EDT everyone launches a video game.
posted by Edogy at 1:27 PM on April 20, 2012

I was able to spend pretty much the entire day in the library computer lab with very little noise or interruption - quite unusual for a Friday. Thanks coincidental police code and date conventions!
posted by codacorolla at 1:29 PM on April 20, 2012

As a former San Rafael High student, I've got to say that the idea of lighting up at the Louis Pasteur statue seems pretty ballsy. I don't know about the 1970s, but in the '80s and '90s, the administrative offices overlooked the quad where that statue stands. It's kind of a visible location.

On the other hand, the same building had a 20-foot-high mural of Frank Zappa hidden in a janitor's closet off the auditorium, and was also the location for Night Ranger's Sister Christian video, so maybe things were more relaxed back then.
posted by Graygorey at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2012

Because it was referenced in the post, I will say that SB 420, the legislation that codified medical access in California, was given that number purely by coincidence. That's according to Vasconcellos the author of the bill, and every one else who worked on it. The leg clerk's office which numbers the bills is not known for their sense of humor or willingness to move bills out of order, so I believe that it was random.

Today makes me cranky for a number of political and professional reasons and I am trying very hard to avoid references to it and probably shouldn't even be posting in this thread.
posted by gingerbeer at 1:41 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Would this be a good spot to point out that the US attorney who prosecuted Marc Emery for selling marijuana seeds to American customers by mail has been all over the Canadian media this week calling for an end to the drug war? Saying stuff like "I want to say this just as clearly and as forthrightly as I can, marijuana prohibition, criminal prohibition of marijuana is a complete failure"? Like that?

Yeah. Seems like a good spot. Mellow.

Also, for the hell of it, here's me on the subject of Marc Emery and the BC marijuana industry. My first encounter with bubble hash and vapourizers.

Mellow squared.
posted by gompa at 1:42 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

the alarm clock app on my iPhone used to show 4:20 on the little icon. it changed after an update, and now it just says 7:30. boo.
posted by ninjew at 1:45 PM on April 20, 2012

I play tennis out of the Golden Gate Park tennis complex in San Francisco. The courts are right next to hippie hill, which is (as far as I can tell) SF's weed epicenter. Three years ago I was out of work during 420 and playing in the middle of the afternoon and it was a never ending stream of stoners, who produced a giant cheer/cloud of smoke at 4:20 pm.

Today, because I'm a working stiff nowadays, I squeezed in a practice session before work. There were already people there getting ready for the festivities when I got there at 6:45AM. I'm used to the garden variety drum circle stoners usually at hippie hill, but the super-industrious early rising stoners I saw this morning I sort of don't get.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 1:55 PM on April 20, 2012

One nice bonus of being an old stoner is the cops pretty much leave you alone after a certain age, as long as you're not being flagrant or stupid about it ... or if you are an infamous pot-smoking celebrity. They seem to bust Willie Nelson in some random state with weed on his tourbus every few years now, which the cops nearly always promote as a trophy bust in the media, and then Willie quietly pays his fine and keeps on touring and smoking like he always did. He's in his 70s now and seems kinda set in his ways, so not sure what point they're trying to make by hassling him. I mean, when law enforcement is making a big deal out of busting counterculture icons with weed who are bona fide senior citizens, we've slipped out from the melodramatic era of Scared Straight messaging and landed in a farce, where nobody believes the game anymore, but we're all still stuck in our roles.

Nearly everyone knows it's a charade at this point, and the spectacle of busting geriatric celebrity stoners as an example to the public is a pretty clear indication that law enforcement is grasping at straws to keep the narrative alive. You can tell their hearts aren't in it so much anymore, especially compared to back in the '80s and early '90s, many years before The Wire, when a majority of people fully believed not only in the scare stories but that we'd eventually win the Drug War if we just scared people hard enough, and put a lot more people in jail much more often... which was great for the burgeoning private prison industry but almost nobody else. But mostly the cops leave old stoners alone, unless they want to make an example out of you, which is easier if you're famous, but even then it's mostly just a slap on the wrist and a picture on the news. They did put Tommy Chong in real prison in 2003 for nine months with a year probation - he was busted in a sting with over 50 other people for selling glass pipes online through his rather prominent website, which runs into all sorts of legal issues compared to a typical brick-and-mortar head shop. He did his time and he's out and doing what he always did, and I think he's still making pipes, but I don't think he's selling bongs online anymore. Hey, in fact he's on tour with Cheech.
posted by krinklyfig at 1:55 PM on April 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

the super-industrious early rising stoners I saw this morning I sort of don't get

Hey, these random drifting currents of odd-angled absurdity aren't going to think themselves.
posted by gompa at 2:03 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Now, I have been known to partake now and again. But I wish I could go to a concert without having the stuff blown in my face. I'm all for fun, but it'd be nice if other people's fun didn't impede my own or my asthmatic friends.
posted by WASP-12b at 2:05 PM on April 20, 2012

I saw Springsteen a few weeks ago, and I have never, ever smelled less marijuana at a concert. A faint whiff before the set started, and then nothing for three hours. It was like bizarro show.
posted by uncleozzy at 2:19 PM on April 20, 2012

the super-industrious early rising stoners I saw this morning I sort of don't get.

Lots of people don't get us.

Also, I hate 420.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:29 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

At first I was a little sad that the University in Boulder decided to squash the illicit celebration. But I think it will actually be positive.

Now they having a big march and meeting somewhere else. I think it will actually be better now. Also I think it is cool that the Uni is going have to make 420 plans every year from now on.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 2:34 PM on April 20, 2012

I hate 420

It's your heritage. It's part of who you are.

Now for the Feats of Eating...
posted by Trurl at 3:32 PM on April 20, 2012

Why is tonight unlike every night?

Cause you're massively stoned?

No, because tonight I have a reason to be.
posted by The Whelk at 3:36 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Man, it smells like weed in here.
posted by loquacious at 3:44 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

this weed smells like here.
posted by The Whelk at 3:47 PM on April 20, 2012

Vapourization. I am very surprised "smoking" and especially "joints" remain popular. And FFS does joint smoke stink something fugly.

Jackass next door needs to buy a vape. It doesn't stink, it uses 1/10th the weed, and his lungs will be much happier. Win-win all around.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:51 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I am very surprised "smoking" and especially "joints" remain popular

It's portable, and doesn't involve using a special electrical device. Also the effects are a little different.

You can stash a joint in a cigarette pack or your wallet. Even the MFLB (which I'm told consumes an entire AA battery every time you use it) isn't that portable.

It's also just more informal, especially compared to a plug-in vape like the Volcano. You can have a little bit and pass it on or put it out. You don't need to plug a medical device in the wall and cook up a dose. That's just my opinion, though.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 4:15 PM on April 20, 2012

It's our first really warm day in San Francisco (in the mid-70s, I bet, at least in the Mission), and I'm in the backyard. Birds are chirping, and bees are doing their thing in the lemon tree, which is mostly lemons at this point but has a few flowers. The Giants-Mets game is on the radio. I'm happy. I hope everyone here is, too.
posted by rtha at 4:40 PM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Actually, Greg Nog, there isn't a whole page devoted to what I was asking, or at least if there is, it's not that one. I have no problem with people using marijuana as a religious sacrament, and am more than happy to concede the point that there are people who find smoking dope a spiritual exercise. What I was asking for proof of, was THIS PARTICULAR DAY, being more spiritual than Christmas. Especially considering it's origins (where the giggling teens come from gilrain). And I will take this opportunity to concede that there are not now, nor have there ever been giggling teens involved in this holiday, smoking dope, or the listening of bad music. Further that everyone involved is a serious professional adult. And I apologize for suggesting that such people ever existed (even though I have vague memories of being one at one time). The main point of my comment STILL STANDS. PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS DAY IS MORE SPIRITUAL THAN CHRISTMAS. Or Valentines day, or for that matter, Tax day. I will accept, "Well it is for me."
posted by evilDoug at 5:09 PM on April 20, 2012

I'll try!

420 is a day that people who celebrate it look forward to as a day to thumb their noses at The Man, have fun with their friends, maybe go around and look at or listen to or otherwise experience cool things, on purpose.

Christmas is a day that a majority of Americans stress about enormously; is fraught with heinous amounts of family baggage, economic stress, and an overwhelming sense that you've bought all the wrong things for people and Christmas dinner will somehow be ruined by Great Uncle Drunky.

I don't know if that makes this day more spiritual or not. More fun, though. Also, at least in the northern hemisphere, the weather's generally better.
posted by rtha at 5:20 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thank you rtha, I find your points to be valid and sensible.
posted by evilDoug at 5:24 PM on April 20, 2012

Though, I don't know why linking didn't work that time.
posted by evilDoug at 5:26 PM on April 20, 2012

Also, the "Everything is..." in the thread title just made me want to listen to "Everything is Beautiful" by Ray Stevens, which I think might make me the biggest square is Squaresville.

I'm more down with Dean Martin's version of "Everything is Beautiful", but then again, everything is beautiful... in its own way.
posted by ovvl at 5:37 PM on April 20, 2012

I will add that I am not someone who celebrates the day with bunches of other random people. One: I am old, and two: I am somewhat introverted and prefer to celebrate in my backyard or somewhere peaceful. Also, stereotypical stoners annoy me as much as they annoy anyone.
posted by rtha at 5:40 PM on April 20, 2012

When did 420 become a thing? I haven't smoked pot since the waning days of the George H.W. Bush administration, and back then we had "Hash Wednesday" which was the third Wednesday in April.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:01 PM on April 20, 2012

I realize this is a lighthearted moment and all, but I figured I'd throw this out there anyway.

I remember the first time I got a quality sativa and about 45 minutes or an hour afterwards I realized for the first time in my life that there actually was a cure for my ADD and anxiety that didn't totally debilitate me. Before this, I was always the guy who never lived up to his potential, which everyone attributed to some sort of inherent laziness or lack of discipline, when in reality, I just couldn't focus, became anxious about it, and it snowballed towards paralysis.

Before you ask, I've tried anti-anxiety meds and anti-ADD pills like Ritalin, you name it, if the doctor said it would help, I tried it. Things were either drastically worse or just worse. I was in a bad place, on the precipice of alcoholism or worse. I was feeling more than a little suicidal and thought I had nothing to look forward but a bleak future in an increasingly hostile society who didn't care and thought I was a lazy bum.

Now, I am respected by my peers and known as someone who is reliable and can solve any problem you throw at me.

The only problem I have is that I could go to prison for this. If you support the modern day Volstead Act, please contemplate this next time you reevaluate your position.
posted by feloniousmonk at 6:31 PM on April 20, 2012 [12 favorites]

The Wall Street Journal ran an article today, "High Expectations: Marketers Hope for Buzz on 4/20." Could commerce ultimately be the driver for a broad opening to marijuana tolerance? I remember, when I was a kid, rumors abounded about the Big Tobacco Companies retooling their assembly lines to produce joints next year. That seems a bit unrealistic in retrospect, but I was a naive child. However, is marijuana the iPad of 2015? One state goes legal, and the world doesn't end.
posted by the sobsister at 6:38 PM on April 20, 2012

The Transamerica Pyramid weighs in.
posted by rtha at 7:28 PM on April 20, 2012

Don't complain to the cops when the TSA steals your marijuana

And also: how about some hemp seed vodka? apparently each batch is tested by the Feds to make sure it contains no THC.
posted by leahwrenn at 9:57 PM on April 20, 2012

Sundial -Tumbleweed, my favourite pot song, along with pretty much everything on 'The Dreaming' by Kate Bush.
posted by h00py at 10:01 PM on April 20, 2012

everything is better with a bag of weed

I was in the car when my friend got pulled over for a traffic ticket, many moons ago. Having a bag of weed in the car actually made things a lot worse.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:49 AM on April 21, 2012

You're bringing me down, man.
posted by h00py at 7:17 AM on April 21, 2012

Did someone steal the rest of the comments?
posted by Goofyy at 12:14 PM on April 22, 2012

Bunch of stoners, can't even organize 420 comments.
posted by Goofyy at 10:05 PM on April 22, 2012

Bunch of stoners, can't even organize 420 comments.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:55 AM on April 23, 2012