Marijuana Goes Mainstream

April 20, 2009 1:57 PM

The New York Times discovers the significance of today's date.

"Allen F. St. Pierre, the executive director of Norml, said he had cautioned supporters that any legal changes that might occur would probably be incremental. “The balancing act this year is trying to get our most active, most vocal supporters to be more realistic in their expectations in what the Obama administration is going to do,” Mr. St. Pierre said."

posted by Joe Beese (63 comments total)

Glenn Beck thinks he's a libertarian?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
posted by kldickson at 2:02 PM on April 20 [8 favorites has favorites]

The ad mentioned in the article, which manages to blow its professional, middle-age middle-class professional appeal during the last five seconds.
posted by Benjy at 2:02 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

You know who else today's date was significant to?
posted by gman at 2:02 PM on April 20 [19 favorites has favorites]

This guy?
posted by Burhanistan at 2:11 PM on April 20

Snopes says "420" started back in 1971 as a bit of slang casually used by a group of high school kids at San Rafael High School in California, if you were wondering where to pay homage to the tradition.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:12 PM on April 20

The ad mentioned in the article, which manages to blow its professional, middle-age middle-class professional appeal during the last five seconds.

What the hell was that camera shake and stoner giggle about? Dumbass Norml won't go anywhere until they tell their PR people to stay sober.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:14 PM on April 20 [2 favorites has favorites]

Police plan special DUI enforcement for so-called '420' holiday, and with video! Don't drive "drugged" kids! Also is it required by law that a police officer be patronizing to you while he's questioning you? Also, how the hell do you test for marijuana?
posted by geoff. at 2:16 PM on April 20

This guy?
posted by Burhanistan

What a cute baby! Wait a second...
posted by gman at 2:17 PM on April 20

I thought it was funny that Amazon.com's MP3 album deal of the day was for Bob Marley.
posted by dirtdirt at 2:17 PM on April 20 [3 favorites has favorites]

Burhanistan? Why do you know that?
posted by oneironaut at 2:20 PM on April 20

I thought it was just the 30th anniversary of the day that Jimmy Carter was attacked by a killer rabbit.
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:20 PM on April 20 [3 favorites has favorites]

Other police officers have different plans for 420. Norm Stamper, former Seattle police chief and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, has an article in the Huffington Post "420: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief"
posted by radiomayonnaise at 2:22 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

I still find it slightly messed up that I can go to the doctor and get something a thousand times more addicting, worse for my body, with worse side effects, and which makes me by far more dangerous on the roads than any stoner - yet it still doesn't treat the problem nearly as well as a road side weed which used to grow wild in ditches!
posted by strixus at 2:23 PM on April 20 [8 favorites has favorites]

Oh my god. gman may have just won the internet. I can't believe that meme was actually used in an informative way.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:27 PM on April 20

Also, how the hell do you test for marijuana?

Wave snacks in front of the driver?
posted by inigo2 at 2:27 PM on April 20 [2 favorites has favorites]

And, adding something relevant to the thread, everyone (with extended cable or better) can tune in to the TV premiere of Super High Me on G4 tonight. The lady and I watched it last night (complete coincidence, it just happened to show up in our Netflix instant queue) and it's pretty decent. Not terribly informative or thought-provoking, but worth a watch if you like that group of comedians (I'd say about 40 make guest appearances) or are interested in the subject.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:29 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Gizmodo test drives the $670 Volcano Vaporizer.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:30 PM on April 20

Gizmodo test drives the $670 Volcano Vaporizer.

Tried it numerous times. Makes me feel like I'm huffing Scotchgard™ from a bag.
posted by gman at 2:32 PM on April 20

My my my, what a rainy day it is today. Can't really get any work done on such a grey and dreary day. I think I'll just ..put on some records, you know? Listen to some old classics. Read Science Fiction from the 70s. Drink Hot cocoa. Yeeeep, that sounds right about right.
posted by The Whelk at 2:36 PM on April 20 [13 favorites has favorites]

th;dr
posted by not_on_display at 2:37 PM on April 20 [35 favorites has favorites]

... and 10 years since Columbine. I kept/keep waiting for some sort of shitty 10 year memorial thread and/or a bunch of blabber about it on the news.
posted by togdon at 2:48 PM on April 20

Legacy Of Change: Gaming After Columbine
posted by gman at 2:50 PM on April 20

And, adding something relevant to the thread, everyone (with extended cable or better) can tune in to the TV premiere of Super High Me on G4 tonight.


"......and as a peg for marijuana-related television programming (like the G4 network’s prime-time double bill Monday of “Super High Me” and “Half Baked”)."

RTFA, Dude.
posted by longsleeves at 2:52 PM on April 20

RTFA, Dude.

I tried to read it, but I kept getting distracted by this tapestry I have hanging on my wall. It's like... it's like it's alive.

Or perhaps I read it, but glossed over that part. Thank god you're here to correct me. Really, really important that you do that on such a critical part of a critical article, Dude.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:57 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Must be the day for square news coverage of weed. NPR does a speculative piece on America after legalization, with patchy results. The online poll makes it pretty clear where the readership falls, though.
posted by nanojath at 2:58 PM on April 20

All's I know is, if it's on the NYT site, it's jumped the shark.
posted by indiebass at 3:02 PM on April 20

Tried it numerous times. Makes me feel like I'm huffing Scotchgard™ from a bag.

Then you're doing it wrong.

And $670? Consider these models .
posted by cjets at 3:13 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Man, ever since Sarah Palin went away, Metafilter is at its best when it's 'discussing' the marijuana issue.

*pulls up lawn chair, digs into personal stash*
posted by mannequito at 3:23 PM on April 20

anyone here wanna share an eighth of a comment?
posted by the aloha at 3:27 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

something a thousand times more addicting

Addictive. I hate that I'm bothered by this so much. :(
posted by Mikey-San at 3:28 PM on April 20 [2 favorites has favorites]

geoff. : Also, how the hell do you test for marijuana?

Give the suspect $20 and send them into a convince store with specific orders to only buy motor-oil. In order to pass, they are not allowed to go near the munchies at all, and they have to be out in less than 5 minutes.
posted by quin at 3:29 PM on April 20 [2 favorites has favorites]

A cloud of pungent smoke is also expected to be thick at concerts like one planned at the Fillmore rock club, where the outspoken pro-marijuana hip-hop group Cypress Hill is expected to take the stage at 4:20 p.m.

I wish to offer some additional factual information. This is a concert which many post-adolescents will attend, at a time the afternoon that has special significance to marijuana enthusiasts. Some of them in attendance may be in posession of this substance, may inhale the smoke produced from the burning of the contraband, and may move their bodies in rhythm to the musical assembly's broadcasted frequencies.
posted by jimmythefish at 3:30 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

yet it still doesn't treat the problem nearly as well as a road side weed which used to grow wild in ditches!

Is that from people tossing baggies from the window whilst being pursued?
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:32 PM on April 20

Joke all you want, but the amphibious swamp rabbit that attacked Carter? High on marijuana. Fortunately a quick-thinking Carter distracted it with a Magic Eye painting before making his escape.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:34 PM on April 20 [2 favorites has favorites]

Must be the day for square news coverage of weed.

Buncha squares making awkward hurf durf munchies jokes in here, too, it would appear.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 3:39 PM on April 20 [4 favorites has favorites]

I'm 100% in favor of legalization but only as a stepping stone to repealing prohibition in general. Just as I'm 100% in favor of civil unions for gay people but only as an incremental improvement on the way to marriage.
posted by Justinian at 3:40 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Hahaha, potheads like snacks and tapestries.
posted by donblood at 3:54 PM on April 20

Whyiseveryonetalkingsofastisthisacommercialforpotorspeed?

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop huffing Scotchgard.

You know who else today's date was significant to?

Oliver Cromwell, who dissolved the Rump Parliament on April 20, 1653.

World War I flying ace The Red Baron, who shot down his 79th and 80th victims on April 20, 1918, making him the shooting-downiest pilot of World War I (he was shot down himself the next day).

The crew of Apollo 16, who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972.

Vladimir Horowitz, who performed in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years on April 20, 1986. Also, Michael Jordan, who set the all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game that same day.

Danica Patrick, who became the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race on April 20, 2008.

Fun fact: all of those people smoked a bowl before accomplishing those amazing things! (Except Cromwell. He used a bong made out of Charles I's skull.)
posted by kirkaracha at 3:55 PM on April 20 [5 favorites has favorites]

Why is making jokes about marijuana such serious business to some of you?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:38 PM on April 20 [3 favorites has favorites]

4/20 is a holiday celebrated at an arbitrary date of dubious or unimportant origin which is nothing but an excuse to get intoxicated and celebrate. It is superior to many other holidays because no one annoyingly pretends otherwise and also because of weed.

At the University of Colorado, Boulder, where thousands of students regularly use the day to light up in the quad, administrators sent an e-mail message this month pleading with students not to “participate in unlawful activity that debases the reputation of your university and degree.”

Someone needs to tell the Dean of Lame he's too late and his whole state already has a debased reputation.

New age huckster blog spammed in the NPR comments is hilarious:

Non-prescription drugs like pot and cocaine will open up a wall, or gateway, at one of the subtle bodies so it is easier to travel out to an astral realm through your consciousness. Those vibrations are higher than the slow vibes of Earth. So it’s very appropriate that the person feels “high.”
posted by Sockpuppet For Naughty Things at 4:40 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Nobody has yet picked up on the point that the growing "tolerance" or whatever you want to call it is a function of government need for $$$$. I just listened to an interview on CBC in Vancouver about the apparently controversial issue of allowing booze at a folkfest. A lot of moralizing about drunks spoiling the show for the sensitive family audience. Bottom line: Folkfests have been going bust and losing money. Booze makes them money. So it's suddenly OK. Really annoying and patronizing assumptions about "drug users" being some low species of loser -- doubtless held most strongly by prozac-munching suburbanites (if I may attack one stereotype with another).
posted by binturong at 5:20 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also, how the hell do you test for marijuana?

According to (now disgraced...) Officer Cox, enlarged taste buds are a sure sign of being high...

“I asked (him) to be honest with me and I asked him how much marijuana he had smoked,” Cox reported. Once again, the man said he had never smoked marijuana or cigarettes. “I asked why he has several raised and enlarged taste buds on the back of his tongue if he does not smoke anything and he said he does not know.”
posted by pwb503 at 5:21 PM on April 20

I still find it slightly messed up that I can go to the doctor and get something a thousand times more addicting, worse for my body, with worse side effects, and which makes me by far more dangerous on the roads than any stoner...

You really don't need to go to a doctor for this. A liquor store will do just fine.
posted by Avelwood at 5:43 PM on April 20 [4 favorites has favorites]

Heh. 4/20. Here's a pretty sweet story by Roald Dahl. "Genesis and Catastrophe."
posted by John of Michigan at 6:02 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

"...straight and gay"...

Sorry, but what's the point of adding this? I'm sure there are some right-wing types who would favor legalization, and with that unnecessary phrase Norml just alienated some potential allies. Focus, people...

Oh, and that Norm Stamper piece on Huff Post is the most cogent argument I've read in a while.
posted by zardoz at 6:26 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Roald Dahl was one weird motherfucker. Thanks for the story.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:35 PM on April 20

I laugh every single time.
posted by Bookhouse at 6:54 PM on April 20

I laugh every single time.

Bookhouse, that version is missing a key element
posted by Adam_S at 6:57 PM on April 20

"You know who else today's date was significant to?"

Yes, yes I do.
Although now that I read Glen Beck is in favor of it, I'm going to have to seriously rethink my position.
How did stoners come up with using 4/20 as the date though. I mean, oh sure the link between the date and the 'best time to get high' is obvious, but I can't imagine that would be true when you're stoned.
Bill: Hey man - you know what today is?
Jim: Monday.
Bill: No man, the time. Like the day.
Pete: The time...like the day?
(guffaws ensue)
Bill: No seriously, today is...Monday...but it's 4:20 the time...which is the day it is. Today. 4/20.
Phil: You're stoned dude.
Jim: No, wait! I get it - the day is the time!
Bill: Yeah!
Jim: Totally!
Pete: Huh?
Phil: Oh, yeah, I get it?
Bill: You do! Cool.
Phil: No...no...I was just trying to uh...y'know.
Bill: No, look it's easy. The best time to get high is 4:20. But that's today's date! 4/20!
Phil: Ohhhh. Yeah, man! So we could get high AT 4:20 ON 4/20. Wild.
Pete: It's also Hitler's birthday. And Columbine.
All:....

All: Dude, shut up! Harshing my mellow ya Nazi. etc.
posted by Smedleyman at 8:26 PM on April 20

Mr. Hager said the significance of April 20 dates to a ritual begun in the early 1970s in which a group of Northern California teenagers smoked marijuana every day at 4:20 p.m. Word of the ritual spread and expanded to a yearly event in various places. Soon, marijuana aficionados were using “420” as a code for smoking and using it as a sign-off on fliers for concerts where the drug would be plentiful.


Sooo....the NYT discovered that 4:20 was significant because college kids smoked pot at 4:20. Wow...do you NYT fans also believe that NYT discovered news, journalism...and even PAPER?

Long live that east coast paper.
posted by hal_c_on at 8:35 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wow...do you NYT fans also believe that NYT discovered news, journalism...and even PAPER?

they discovered long island, too! - go look it up in their archives if you don't believe me
posted by pyramid termite at 8:47 PM on April 20

Why is making jokes about marijuana such serious business to some of you?

it is no joke how many people understand drug humor; thus the high likelihood that others who read the joke will laugh.
posted by the aloha at 8:56 PM on April 20

Every year the same old Snopes legend and every year somebody in San Rafael's laughing even harder. Why would anyone go back to school an hour after it closed to smoke up?

When I was in class in San Jose in the early 70's your friend would ask "what time is it" and you'd look at your arm whether there was a wristwatch there or not and say "I dunno, but it feels like 4:20 to me." That's because 4 equals "D" and 20 equals "T", and "DT" stands for "Dope Time". We couldn't have been the only ones.
posted by aninom at 9:09 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

I heard 420 long, long, long before the snopes "factoid". Maybe it's just cause my parents were hippies. Maybe it's just because my parents were hippies with acres and acres of pot in the Pennsylvania foothills, but I can tell you that the code was common amongst the commune dwelling, barefoot, philosophy phds, artists, musicians, war protesters, yippies, and motorcycle enthusiasts who populated my childhood.

All that said, I think it's important to remember...wait...what was I just talking about?
posted by dejah420 at 11:30 PM on April 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think this piece on huffpo does a better job at confirming the San Rafael story.
posted by xmattxfx at 4:58 AM on April 21

Is most of the marijuana on the street in the US "skunk" (i.e., a super-potent variety with a lot of THC and little cannabidol) as well? In the UK, this is the case, and diagnoses of mental health issues among pot smokers have increased over recent years. There is some evidence that THC (the ingredient which gets you high) may set off psychosis and/or schizophrenia in susceptible users, whilst some studies show that cannabidol (the other ingredient in wild cannabis, though largely absent in skunk) may have anti-psychotic properties.

Perhaps that's another reason to legalise and regulate the stuff; i.e., institute a mandated cannabidol/THC ratio, keeping skunk with dangerous ratios either illegal or taxed prohibitively. When substances in demand are provided by criminal enterprises, there is by definition no quality control and no recourse for the consumer.
posted by acb at 5:26 AM on April 21

institute a mandated cannabidol/THC ratio, keeping skunk with dangerous ratios either illegal or taxed prohibitively

1 - I thought reefer madness was a tired cliché, long-since retired. I've still yet to see any proof that THC -- and THC alone -- causes psychotic fits.

2 - that will not stop home grow ops.

3 - there has yet to be any substantive proof that THC leads to mental problems; and, even if that is the case, people with potential psychotic tendencies should be seeking / receiving help for this regardless of whether or not they smoke a few space cakes.
posted by Dark Messiah at 7:12 AM on April 21

This just in: the NYT has uncovered rumors of something called the "internet" that all the kids are supposed to be really into.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:18 AM on April 21

acb, skunk contains a similar of THC to other canabinoid to most other strains of marijuana. Also, far from most UK pot is skunk - there's a lot of stuff that gets sold as it that blatantly isn't, however.

Also, if you believe that skunk is significantly different to, or more dangerous than, "standard" pot in any way, you've been paying far too much attention to those nice public service anouncements the Government are always making.
posted by Brother Dysk at 8:35 AM on April 21 [2 favorites has favorites]

I don't know what kind of naaarsty shite the Brits were smoking in previous decades, but this much-ballyhooed "skunk" is just "plain ol' weed" over here in BC and, I assume, the rest of North America. I suspect the British happened to be dumbfucks who were being sold the crappiest of the crappiest. Kind of like those poor villages in China that get shafted with all our waste electronics that are now poisoning their water supplies, the British got shafted with shake mixed with recycled tires and pressed into bricks of "hash."

Speaking of hash, if you ever get the chance to try bubble hash, go for it. Pure resin glands. Incredible shit.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:27 PM on April 21

@Dark Messiah:

I thought reefer madness was a tired cliché, long-since retired. I've still yet to see any proof that THC -- and THC alone -- causes psychotic fits.

"Reefer Madness" is a straw-man. Nobody (well, nobody credible) is claiming that marijuana is turning kids into psycho killers. However, there has been an increase in incidents of psychosis and schizophrenia amongst pot smokers, and an increase in the amount of THC in marijuana sold on the streets. Something's afoot, and stating that "nobody has ever proved" sounds like the weaselly legalism of the tobacco industry who claimed for decades that "nobody has ever proved" a link between smoking and cancer.

Of course, studies would need to be done to establish the exact causal factors, though if it's confirmed that THC can set off mental health problems and cannabidol acts as an anti-psychotic agent, then undercutting the black market with legally sold marijuana with safe THC/cannabidol ratios sounds like a sensible harm-minimisation approach to me.

"that will not stop home grow ops."

If one can buy marijuana in the shops, few people would bother with the hassle of growing their own. (It's a lot of work if you just want to smoke some pot, and it's only financially lucrative because it's illegal and the prices are artificially high.) How many people grow their own tobacco?

there has yet to be any substantive proof that THC leads to mental problems; and, even if that is the case, people with potential psychotic tendencies should be seeking / receiving help for this regardless of whether or not they smoke a few space cakes.

"Smoke a few space cakes"? Is that like "doing a crack" or smoking some "ecstasy pipes"?

It goes without saying that people with health problems should receive help. However, if there are substances on the market which exacerbate these problems, then it may be better, in terms of harm minimisation, to do something about this.
posted by acb at 3:24 AM on April 22

skunk contains a similar of THC to other canabinoid to most other strains of marijuana. Also, far from most UK pot is skunk - there's a lot of stuff that gets sold as it that blatantly isn't, however.

I have read that marijuana these days has more THC and less cannabidol than it used to a decade or two ago. It may be that this goes for both "skunk" and "other strains" on the street these days. Is this not the case?
posted by acb at 3:29 AM on April 22

When substances in demand are provided by criminal enterprises, there is by definition no quality control and no recourse for the consumer.

I'd say this is one of the stronger arguments for legalization, apart from it also cutting into drug-related violence and reducing prison overcrowding.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:49 AM on April 22