BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week
Now that marijuana is legal in New York, the long-celebrated cannabis holiday 4/20 is drawing attention from law enforcement.
The number 420 has long-been associated with marijuana, with many people using 4:20 p.m. or sometimes even a.m. as a time to light up.
New York State police issued a release saying they will be stepping up patrols and targeting drug-impaired driving during an enforcement and prevention campaign on April 20.
“The State Police reminds motorists that driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, including cannabis, is not only dangerous, it is illegal in New York State,” the release said.
Why 420?
While there are many rumors about why 420 is celebrated in “cannabis culture,” the most widely accepted origin story as reported in periodicals ranging from Time Magazine to High Times Magazine, is that the ritual was started by a group of high school students in the 1970s.
A 2016 Time Magazine story tells the story of five students at San Rafael High School “who would meet at 4:20 p.m. by the campus’ statue of chemist Louis Pasteur to partake,” the story says. “They chose that specific time because extracurricular activities had usually ended by then.”
The story goes the time stamp 4:20 then became code for marijuana and spread though the state of California and across the nation.
Others claim that police use 420 as code for marijuana. Though there appears to be no published evidence to support that claim.
Regardless of the factual origin, the reality is April 20 has become a widely celebrated day for the cannabis culture and with marijuana legalization growing across the nation commercial ventures have worked to co-opt and capitalize on the holiday.
State response
Not unlike crackdowns during Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day and New Year’s, 4/20 is now officially on the state police radar. Though it’s likely law enforcement has unofficially had their eyes on the holiday long before…
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