# April 20 - National Stoner Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270 "2005-04-20T17:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/1 "2005-04-20T17:44:15Z")
On NPR this morning they had a guest commentary by some guy who has studied (or written on) troubled teens in high school. He said that today, April 20, is “National Stoner Day” (or something like that) and that kids across the USA would all be off getting high today. This is the first time I’d heard anything like this. Does this happen in your part of the country? Ever heard of it? The commentator suggested that parents turn today into “National talk to your kid day”. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/2 "2005-04-20T17:50:21Z")
I’m in favor of “Get your butt back to school; I’m not writing you a note for _that_!” day. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/3 "2005-04-20T17:51:49Z")
I caught just a bit of this same report. I’m conjecturing, that today’s date. 4-20 has something to do with it. 420 is supposedly a police code that means ‘suspicion of illegal drug use’. Very UL, never been confirmed as used by any police dept, but it’s entered the popular culture, esp. stoner culture. Like October 4th should be Citizen Band radio day. “It’s 4:19, You got a minute?” ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/4 "2005-04-20T17:58:16Z")
I heard that it started in Berkeley, California, where some high school kids would hang out by a statue on them high school grounds- congregating at 4:20 PM after most of the faculty had left. There, they would smoke pot and generally laze the day away. the 4:20 bit became teen code for getting wasted, etc Urban myth? Probably, but it makes a good story. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/5 "2005-04-20T17:59:19Z")
I heard that it started in Berkeley, California, where some high school kids would hang out by a statue on the high school grounds- congregating at 4:20 PM after most of the faculty had left. There, they would smoke pot and generally laze the day away. the 4:20 bit became teen code for getting wasted, etc Urban myth? Probably, but it makes a good story. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/6 "2005-04-20T18:03:13Z")
I read about it, too, but I thought it was another college. It’s a BIG event from what I remember reading. Why don’t you just google it? Let’s all smoke a blunt today and be glad that we weren’t born like Hitler or the Columbine killers. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/7 "2005-04-20T18:11:10Z")
It’s been a fairly big thing at the University of Vermont for some years. For a while the administration ignored it, but it eventually became a bit too blatent for that. This year, they have closed the campus to all non-students or employees, and plan to have a fairly sizeable police presence. The administration has said that people who are breaking the law WILL be arrested. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/8 "2005-04-20T18:32:16Z")
While weeding out information on Snopes, I came across this [blunt explanation](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.htm): In 1971, twelve kids at San Rafael High School would smoke pot each day near a statue at 4:20 pm. Somehow this ballooned outside of the group, and 4:20 the time (and through it, 4/20 the day) became a well-known part of the marijuana culture. And that’s the stoned-cold origin. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/9 "2005-04-20T18:36:26Z")
Heh. 4-20. Hitler’s burthday, National Stoners’ Day (but usually only for kids who are stoners anyway), and my brother’s birthday. Talk bout an odd day to get born on. I was thinking of getting him a bong with a swastika as a gag. In the end I just decided to go with a CD. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/10 "2005-04-20T19:02:49Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > While weeding out information on Snopes, I came across this [blunt explanation](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.htm): > > In 1971, twelve kids at San Rafael High School would smoke pot each day near a statue at 4:20 pm. Somehow this ballooned outside of the group, and 4:20 the time (and through it, 4/20 the day) became a well-known part of the marijuana culture. > > And that’s the stoned-cold origin. Three of my cousins went to San Rafael. I’ll have to see if I can get in touch with one of them and see if this was a thing when they went there (mid to late 70s). ---
**Author:** ![flood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@flood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flood)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/11 "2005-04-20T19:17:43Z")
Yeah, it’s a really big thing…I’ve known about it since I was at least in 7th or 8th grade. I’m not a stoner anymore, but I can tell you that alot of peeps on my MSN buddy list have sn’s with some reference to 420. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/12 "2005-04-20T19:24:31Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > While weeding out information on Snopes, :snort: ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/13 "2005-04-20T21:19:38Z")
Never mind kids getting stoned at colleges or police codes. And never say the California government has no sense of humor: California Senate Bill 420 Establishes New Prop 215 Guidelines, Voluntary Patient Identification Card System. Patients Allowed 6 Mature or 12 Immature Plants + 1/2 Pound of Processed Cannabis Full text of the law available [here.](http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/03-04/bill/sen/sb_0401-0450/sb_420_bill_20031012_chaptered.html) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/14 "2005-04-20T21:29:08Z")
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_%28drug_culture%29) I tried searching for the SD article, with no luck, I kinda figured it’d be on the front page today. And yes, 4:20 and 4/20 are big deals around here. 4:20 every day is “a good time to smoke,” so as you can imagine, 4:20 on 4/20 is like frigging Christmas. I’ve seen pictures from the UC Santa Cruz campus, and they get a helluva crowd going. I’m just amazed at how many hardcore stoners are motivated enougg to walk up the hill. ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/15 "2005-04-20T21:51:38Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > It’s been a fairly big thing at the University of Vermont for some years. For a while the administration ignored it, but it eventually became a bit too blatent for that. > > This year, they have closed the campus to all non-students or employees, and plan to have a fairly sizeable police presence. The administration has said that people who are breaking the law WILL be arrested. I was going to post about that. When I was there (95 to 99) it was a pretty big deal. The small park in front of the library was the place to go, and most people would turn a blind eye. One of the years I was there, the bible preaching guy set up on the steps of the library (his normal place) and shouted at all the stoners. I couldn’t tell if he knew why he had such a large crowd that day. I’m not surprized that it’s getting shut down, but I am just a tiny bit sad. For me, it served as a sign that spring had finally come, and it was kind of neat to see everybody sitting out there smoking and having a good time while I was on my way to … um… class or some other legal activity. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/16 "2005-04-20T23:34:04Z")
> [@The Sonoran Lizard King](#): > > I’m conjecturing, that today’s date. 4-20 has something to do with it. > > 420 is supposedly a police code that means ‘suspicion of illegal drug use’. Very UL, never been confirmed as used by any police dept, but it’s entered the popular culture, esp. stoner culture. Thank you for the report Captain… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/17 "2005-04-20T23:53:03Z")
I heard that report on NPR this morning and though it was hilarious; the guy was acting like “420” was this, ahem, shibboleth, for discerning the generation gap. I was thinking “Who doesn’t know about 420? Do they live under a rock?” I guess I was wrong, since Dopers don’t live under rocks. OTOH, I did grow up about 15 miles from San Rafael, if that’s really where it started. I heard about it first in high school, lo, these many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/18 "2005-04-21T00:00:47Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > :snort: That was intentional. I made three puns in that post. I’m not a dope. (Oop, there’s a fourth.) ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/19 "2005-04-21T00:21:20Z")
One of the students at the high school I work at wished me a happy 420. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270/20 "2005-04-21T01:57:35Z")
And guess where [420.com](http://www.420.com) takes you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-20-national-stoner-day/300270.md?page=2)