What is 420?

By Sharline Viollah,

 
What exactly is 420? You may ask.Well whether you know a little about cannabis (weed) or not you’ve probably heard about the numerals 420 which have a special meaning in pot culture. But what does is mean exactly and why are April 20th and 4:20 p.m. sacred to weed aficionados?

420 is a coded word for marijuana or use of marijuana. The twentieth day of the fourth month or 4:20 p.m. when referenced as a day or time for cannabis consumption or the celebration of marijuana culture.
The first 420 code surfaced in the 1970s among a small group of San Rafael highschoolers in California who met regularly at 4:20 p.m. to smoke wed which was later popularized in parts by fans of the band ‘The Grateful Dead’. The five students used to use the coded word so that their parents and teachers couldn’t understand what they were talking about.

‘I could say to one of my friends, I’d go 420 and it was telepathic. He would know it was saying, ‘hey, do you wanna go smoke?” or, ‘Do you have any?’ or, ‘Are you stoned right now?’ it was kind of telepathic just from the way you said it.” Copper told the Huffington post.
The term became well known and spread world-wide the date 20th of April became recognized among weed users as a day to take part in its use. While traditionally 420 has been an excuse for people to come together and smoke weed some parts use that day to hold and organize events like rallies to legalize marijuana

In Kenya where the debate on whether or not weed should be legalized is not yet clear April 20th is just a social media craze with no serious debate. Even though bhang is still illegal in Kenya, we can’t ignore the fact that it’s still a very popular and easy drug to access