XPost: alt.april, alt.atheism, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: too@high.com   
      
   Marijuana culture’s high holiday, known as 4/20, falls this year on Easter   
   Sunday, as well as the last day of Passover, meaning cannabis fans can   
   celebrate in some unusual ways, including an “Easter nug hunt” in Los   
   Angeles, kosher-style THC gummies in New York and a “blaze and praise”   
   drag brunch in Portland, Oregon.   
      
   “It seemed appropriate with egg prices today that we’d be searching for   
   something else,” said Brett Davis, who runs the marijuana tour company   
   Weed Bus Los Angeles and organized the “Easter nug hunt.”   
      
   Here’s a look at 4/20’s history and how it’s being celebrated this year:   
      
   Why 4/20?   
   The origins of the date, and the term “420” generally, were long murky.   
      
   Some claimed it referred to a police code for marijuana possession or was   
   derived from Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35,” with its refrain   
   of “Everybody must get stoned,” 420 being the product of 12 times 35.   
      
   But the prevailing explanation is that it started in the 1970s with a   
   group of bell-bottomed buddies from San Rafael High School, in   
   California’s Marin County north of San Francisco, who called themselves   
   “the Waldos.”   
      
   A friend’s brother was afraid of getting busted for a patch of cannabis he   
   was growing in the woods at nearby Point Reyes, so he drew a map and gave   
   the teens permission to harvest the crop, the story goes.   
      
   During fall 1971, at 4:20 p.m., just after classes and football practice,   
   the group would meet up at the school’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur,   
   smoke a joint and head out to search for the weed patch. They never did   
   find it, but their private lexicon — “420 Louie” and later just “420” —   
   would take on a life of its own.   
      
   The Waldos saved postmarked letters and other artifacts from the 1970s   
   referencing “420,” which they now keep in a bank vault, and when the   
   Oxford English Dictionary added the term in 2017, it cited some of those   
   documents as the earliest recorded uses.   
      
   How did 4/20 spread?   
   A brother of one of the Waldos was a close friend of Grateful Dead bassist   
   Phil Lesh, as Lesh once confirmed in an interview with the Huffington   
   Post, now HuffPost. The Waldos began hanging out in the band’s circle, and   
   the slang term spread.   
      
   Fast-forward to the early 1990s: Steve Bloom, a reporter for the cannabis   
   magazine High Times, was at a Dead show when he was handed a flyer urging   
   people to “meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas   
   Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais.” High Times published it.   
      
   “It’s a phenomenon,” one of the Waldos, Steve Capper, now 69, once told   
   The Associated Press. “Most things die within a couple years, but this   
   just goes on and on. It’s not like someday somebody’s going to say, ‘OK,   
   Cannabis New Year’s is on June 23rd now.’”   
      
   While the Waldos came up with the term, the people who made the flier that   
   was distributed at the Dead show — effectively turning 4/20 into a holiday   
   — remain unknown.   
      
   How is it celebrated?   
   With weed, naturally.   
      
   In New York City, the cannabis brand Tokin’ Jew is advertising a kosher-   
   style THC gummy line, “Tokin’ Chews,” designed to meet dietary   
   restrictions for Passover.   
      
   Davis said he expected 300 people to partake in the West Hollywood Easter   
   nug scavenger hunt this weekend, aided by a mobile app leading them   
   through participating dispensaries, trivia challenges and “stoner   
   activities.” There is a $500 cash prize.   
      
   In Portland, Bar Carlo is hosting the “blaze and praise” drag brunch.   
   Cannabis consumption isn’t allowed onsite — “Please blaze before you   
   arrive or go for a walk in the neighborhood in between performances,” the   
   event listing reads — but there will be a door-prize gift basket from a   
   local dispensary.   
      
   Bar owner Melinda Archuleta said the brunch is a dry run for hosting Pride   
   month events in June. She herself doesn’t care much for marijuana, but as   
   a Mexican American who has been influenced by Catholicism, she is   
   interested in seeing the two cultures melded “in a cheeky way.”   
      
   “I’m really looking forward to seeing how the queens do it,” Archuleta   
   said. “We’ve obviously given them carte blanche to do whatever they want —   
   it’s 21 and up — so it doesn’t matter if it’s sacrilegious or borderline   
   offensive.”   
      
   There are bigger celebrations, too, including the Mile High 420 Festival   
   in Denver and one put on by SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta. Hippie Hill in   
   San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park historically has attracted massive   
   crowds, but the gathering was canceled for a second straight year, with   
   organizers citing a lack of financial sponsorship and city budget cuts.   
      
   Just north of the Bay Area, Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California,   
   releases its “Waldos’ Special Ale” every year on 4/20 in partnership with   
   the term’s coiners.   
      
   4/20 also has become a big industry event, with vendors gathering to try   
   each other’s wares.   
      
   What about the politics?   
   There are 24 states that allow recreational marijuana and 14 others   
   allowing it for medical purposes. But the movement recently has suffered   
   some setbacks, with voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota   
   deciding not to adopt legalization measures last November.   
      
   Several states also have cracked down on intoxicating products derived   
   from hemp, which have been widely sold even in prohibition states thanks   
   to a loophole in the federal Farm Bill.   
      
   Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. As a candidate, President   
   Donald Trump said he would vote for Florida’s amendment and signaled   
   support for reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a process   
   started by the Biden administration.   
      
   But his administration has not indicated cannabis policy is a priority. A   
   fact sheet released by the White House last month complained that   
   marijuana decriminalization in Washington, D.C., was an example of “failed   
   policies” that “opened the door to disorder.”   
      
   A bipartisan group of senators last week reintroduced legislation that   
   would ensure states can adopt their own cannabis policies and remove   
   certain financial hurdles for the industry, such as letting entities   
   deduct business expenses on their taxes.   
      
   Charles Alovisetti, a lawyer with the cannabis industry law firm Vicente   
   LLP, said he hopes the administration will push forward with marijuana   
   reform at the federal level, saying “it does align with some of their   
   policy objectives — namely reducing criminal activity, or cartel   
   activity.”   
      
   He also encouraged advocates to keep pushing, noting some measures such as   
   improving banking access for marijuana businesses might pass as part of   
   larger legislative packages.   
      
   “You continue speaking up, even if the political momentum isn’t there,”   
   Alovisetti said. “It’s only possible if you stay in everyone’s ear.”   
      
   https://ktla.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-marijuana-holiday-4-20-   
   coincides-with-easter-and-passover-this-year-heres-what-to-know/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)