MONDAY, APRIL 20 This week of crappy comedy, Nepalese tragedy, and a huge step forward for transgender awareness in America kicked off with 4/20, the popularly acknowledged, sloppily defined “marijuana holiday” that’s also a twice-daily clock occurrence that doesn’t actually mean anything but boy do pot-loving people get excited when the numbers 4 and 20 land near each other. Stories on the origin of 4/20 abound—it’s the penal code criminalizing weed use! It’s police radio code for marijuana smoking! It’s the number of chemical compounds in cannabis!—and 99.9 percent of them are bullshit. The closest thing to a true story involves a group of Northern California high schoolers, who in the early 1970s would meet up for after-school weed-based adventures at 4:20 p.m. The “4/20” euphemism was picked up by the group’s wider circle of friends, including members of the Grateful Dead, eventually passing to the band’s fans and the editor of High Times magazine. In less groovy news, 4/20 is also the anniversary of the Columbine massacre and Hitler’s birthday…
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