cannabisnews.com: 420: Time To Take Back The Day
420: Time To Take Back The Day
Posted by CN Staff on April 15, 2007 at 07:18:03 PT
By Victoria Carlborg, Vista Community Clinic
Source: North County Times
California -- Ask anyone who doesn't have an adolescent what "420" means, and they might think you need a new wristwatch. Yes, it's a time of day, but the term "420" also is a common reference for smoking marijuana.The most widely accepted theory of "420's" origination is that in the 1970s, high school-age stoners in Northern California congregated at 4:20 p.m. daily. "420" has evolved into an unofficial marijuana holiday.
Rather than celebrating such a "holiday," educators, law enforcement officers and health advocates want students to bungee and bounce their way to a sober and drug-free life choice at their annual anti-420 event ---- 420 Remix ---- A Celebration of Sober and Drug-Free Life Choices ---- on April 20 at El Camino High School in Oceanside and at Carlsbad Village Academy in Carlsbad. Middle and high school students will participate in positive alternative activities after school, instead of smoking marijuana.And school officials like Tim Ware, the Oceanside Unified School District's school intervention manager and one of the Oceanside event's sponsors, don't want students to attend a traditional lecture or health fair to educate them about substance abuse. By creating a carnival-like atmosphere for the teens, he and other adults want youth to experience a positive alternative to getting high, as well as educate parents about the risks of marijuana use.Local research has revealed that marijuana, trivialized by many as a harmless substance, is the most widely used illicit drug among youth in San Diego County. Nineteen percent of San Diego County 11th-graders surveyed reported using marijuana in the past 30 days. Also, two-thirds of new marijuana users each year are between ages 12 and 17, while the number of eighth-graders trying marijuana has doubled in 10 years.The marijuana that today's youth inhale is much more potent than what the baby boomers used in the '60s and '70s. Between 1995 and 2002, the number of marijuana-related emergency department visits in San Diego doubled ---- to 1,174 mentions in 2002. Nationwide, marijuana was involved in 10 percent of emergency room visits related to recent drug use in 2004.The 420 Remix event started in Carlsbad in the early 2000s, when counselors noted that several students in drug treatment relapsed on that day. Organizers hope that events like this will change societal norms and influence public policy, but above all, they just want kids to be, well, kids, and enjoy themselves for the afternoon.Let's remix what 420 means to our youth. Together, we can change their perception that marijuana is not harmful. It's time to take back the day.Victoria Carlborg is the media/prevention specialist with the Tri-City Prevention Collaborative at the Vista Community Clinic. Contact her at (760) 407-1220, Ext. 143 or at: victoria vistacommunityclinic.orgSource: North County Times (Escondido, CA)Author: Victoria Carlborg, Vista Community Clinic Published: Saturday, April 14, 2007 Copyright: 2007 North County TimesContact: letters nctimes.comWebsite: http://www.nctimes.comCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #34 posted by whig on April 21, 2007 at 11:56:00 PT
ekim
Other drugs, MDMA, LSD, mushrooms, things other than cannabis, are not necessarily evil. Some legal prescription drugs are a whole lot more dangerous than any of these, destroy more lives, help few people, and enrich a few people beyond your wildest dreams, while they call down condemnation on us for cannabis.
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Comment #33 posted by whig on April 21, 2007 at 11:53:21 PT
ekim
"I told the reporter that the Drug Dealer is the most evil, destructive force in America today (not the Pot Dealer). The drug dealer is the point person for the black market and that market does cause more pain, death and destruction to innocent citizens than any other force in America."I've known honest dealers who sold to adults what they wanted and what helped them. Are you calling them evil?
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Comment #32 posted by ekim on April 21, 2007 at 05:25:42 PT
Jeff you might want to talk to Howard he is aok
Just a note for Jeff, in case you know how to contact him:I told the reporter that the Drug Dealer is the most evil, destructive
force in America today (not the Pot Dealer). The drug dealer is the
point person for the black market and that market does cause more pain,
death and destruction to innocent citizens than any other force in
America.howardOfficer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired)
Education Specialist, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc)
Washington, DC
Hablo espanol, je parle francais, Deutsch auch
Howard J. Wooldridge
1402 W. 7th Street
Frederick, MD 21702
301-695-1739
817-975-1110 (cell)
wooldridge leap.cc
The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of unintended harmful
consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the
incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending
drug prohibition.
http://blog.leap.cc/
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Comment #31 posted by FoM on April 17, 2007 at 06:53:50 PT
Whig
That was such a cool video. Thanks!
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Comment #30 posted by whig on April 17, 2007 at 00:35:48 PT
My grandparents' generation
The Zimmers - My Generationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqfFrCUrEbYYou know what does wonderful things for aging people?
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Comment #29 posted by whig on April 17, 2007 at 00:15:21 PT
ekim #20
Is cannabis dangerous?
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Comment #28 posted by Christen-Mitchell on April 16, 2007 at 21:11:43 PT:
Dankhank
Boulder is 30 miles north of Denver. Denver promises to have a great 420, I believe at the Civic Center Park, to honor Ken Gorman. CU campus in Boulder has a blowout every year. The next day, Saturday, I'll have my little 421 in Boulder's Central Park.Brand new CU NORML site...with Puffalo!
NORMLCU.com
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on April 16, 2007 at 15:55:31 PT
Media Awareness Project
crew introduced me to FoM and this website at a chat one evening. I started reading the comments and articles here and when Rainbow Farm was happening, I started to post some comments.That whole period of days and weeks then was awful. I'm glad to have had my C-News friends from all over the world and country, including New York, to listen to and speak with during that awful time.
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Comment #26 posted by Hope on April 16, 2007 at 15:49:56 PT
I love these guys...and the so many more
that weren't mentioned in the article. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n480/a07.html?397Without them, and this place, I would be just as totally clueless as most people seem to be. I wouldn't know there were many, many more people who felt like I did about what was happening to people....especially the cannabis partakers. I knew, for God is Witness, dang sure, personally that laws against cannabis are unjust. Hideously so.I think the hard drug people, and everyone else, would be safer with a regulated system than the way it is now. I think "part" of the "danger" with some of them is that they are indeed "hunted". You hunt a man. You might as well expect him to get dangerous in some cases. I'd rather fund help for them than prison.It's the kids killed by the government in the name of the War on Drugss, I think, that got me first. Esequial Hernandaz. So many more now. The old people. Donald Post. So many, many more killed now. The flabberghastingly innocent blown away on a prohibitionist whim. I weep at that.A young cannabist I watched mistreated and humiliated on a COPS show. The outrageous forfeiture injustices got my attention.Then my family and friends. Seeing the Drug War much like the Civil War. Family and friends on both sides. These things were riding me and stabbing me, personally, like an old conquistador's spurs. My concience screamed at the injustice. But I didn't know what to do until I met these guys...then you guys.MEDIA AWARENESS PROJECT & DRUGSENSE
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on April 16, 2007 at 14:21:23 PT
Christen-Mitchell
Thank you. I don't follow LEAP because of the way they mix up cannabis with hard drugs. I prefer to listen to people who care about cannabis and reform. Not all people are drug legalizers and I am not one of them. I see the risk and I can't be untrue to my convictions. No one should go to jail for using a hard drug if caught but selling hard drugs doesn't settle with my conscience.
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on April 16, 2007 at 14:08:10 PT
Lol!
Pete over at DrugWarrant was thinking the same thing about the Sheriff from Ekim's article. Brain cell problems! Actually...I think his problem is probably more that he's counting on his listener's having the "brain cell" problems.The sheriff should realize how easily double talk can drift off and out from under cover and maybe his listener's might be sharper than he realizes.
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on April 16, 2007 at 13:34:20 PT
Say!
I have an idea, Victoria! Why don't you write a column about what the day means to a lot people? Get everybody's attention on it...especially if they hadn't heard of it before. That's bound to "take it away" from "those" other people that you so disdain.
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on April 16, 2007 at 13:22:59 PT
Thank you, Ekim.
That's a good article. The sheriff and the chief were interviewed for the story about Howard. Maybe Howard stirred up a little more brain cell activity among them. Doesn't sound like it. But maybe someone will actually think about it. ""I could show you a whole jail full of people who have got mixed up with drugs and it hasn't helped them in any way," said Sheriff Charles L. Brown."Maybe even Sheriff Brown.
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Comment #21 posted by Dankhank on April 16, 2007 at 13:12:36 PT:
Christen-Mitchell
are you in or near the Mile-High city?I'm toying with the idea of checking out the 420 celebration in Boulder. My son lives in Denver, and I'm going to see him ....
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Comment #20 posted by ekim on April 16, 2007 at 12:59:43 PT
Howard from Leap
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n483/a10.htmlTHEORY: SAFER TO LEGALIZE DRUGS The federal government should legalize and regulate drugs for recreational and medical use because they are too dangerous to leave in the hands of criminals, a former Michigan lawman says. Howard J. Wooldridge, a self-described education specialist in Washington, D.C., with the Boston-based Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said a $1 trillion war against drugs since the 1970s has failed to stop the flow of narcotics into the nation and that many drugs often sell for less, are stronger and are more readily available than ever. "These drugs are dangerous, some of them are deadly, and that's why we ( need ) the government to control and regulate them" through legalization, Wooldridge said. "The drug dealers are regulating these drugs."
http://leap.cc/events/
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Comment #19 posted by whig on April 16, 2007 at 08:55:48 PT
Questions.
Has cannabis ever done anyone proven harm?Has it been used for a very long time by a very substantial number of people?If you are aware of a proven harm of cannabis, please specify.
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Comment #18 posted by whig on April 16, 2007 at 08:40:34 PT
So change perspective
If you change perspective, disagreement becomes agreement.Look at a rotating fan on the ceiling. Is it spinning clockwise or counterclockwise? Yes. It is doing both at once, from different points of view. Do you conceive of the rotation as of a clock turned upside down and facing you, or with respect to the floor beneath you?Black is white, night is day, whatever. This is how people think in opposites. Doublethink. If we don't define our words carefully, and define our own point of view, we communicate badly.Orwell wrote the manual that the government has been following. No doubt.You cannot judge words. You cannot know what lies behind them unless you test the fruit. Am I wrong, am I right? You have to decide for yourself, with every single thing that I say, even if I have been right a million times before, I could be wrong. Accept this of yourself, too. I will always question you, because I know how important it is for you to know the truth, but I do not expect you to answer unless you want to.
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Comment #17 posted by whig on April 16, 2007 at 08:31:36 PT
What color are polar bears?
http://tinyurl.com/2294z9
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Comment #16 posted by whig on April 16, 2007 at 08:29:31 PT
Burden of proof
I could say that polar bears are perceived to be white, but someone could dispute with me and say that some polar bears are black. They could speculate at great length about the possibility of an unobserved polar bear, or even show me purported evidence of black polar bears based upon discovering black polar bear faeces. I could respond, yes, those faeces are black, but this says nothing about the color of the bear that left it.At some point it becomes beyond ridiculous, and we say, show us one black polar bear. Speculations are fun, to a point, but show us the proof.And then they spraypaint the bear, or in our case, spray poison on the plants.No longer funny.
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Comment #15 posted by whig on April 16, 2007 at 08:23:21 PT
Christen-Mitchell
I'm sure we have a lot of groups like that, the people who lump cannabis in with all "drugs" and talk about "legalizing drugs" and don't say anything about medical cannabis, don't say anything nice about our herb at all, except to say that it isn't helpful to prohibit things...Well, that's becoming the mainline prohibitionist position...believe it or not. And then they begin in on all sorts of supposed harms of cannabis, all unproven.
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Comment #14 posted by ekim on April 16, 2007 at 08:06:29 PT
thanks jeff -- have you read the blog
Heartless Feds, apparently heartless city cops, too
Filed under: Tony Ryan — April 10, 2007 8:06 am
Later today - it is just barely Tuesday - I will appear in my home town of Denver, where I grew up and was a cop for 36 years and then left for the quiet of a smaller mid-west town. I'm appearing with local marijuana proponents to protest my former department's callous disregard of the will of the people it serves.You see, two years ago Denver voters approved a city ordinance that allows possession of less than one ounce of marijuana for personal use by persons 21 years of age or older.
http://blog.leap.cc/
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Comment #13 posted by Christen-Mitchell on April 16, 2007 at 07:43:47 PT:
I'm Not a Fan of LEAP
Nearly 2 years ago Howard Woolridge came to address a Boulder NORML meeting. While waiting for the start I read the local parer's article on LEAP. Paragraph one stated their goal: in that pot dealers were the most evil people in the US, the aim of LEAP was to eliminate them by ending prohibition.Aghast, I could not remain to listen. This reasoning was more than a little flawed. So until prohibition ends in 20 years, the most hated person should be the dealers? This is why they lost my support.A few months later, to let others try the helm, I stepped down as pres of the local chapter. The new pres went decidedly haywire. It is hard to imagine the president of a NORML chapter campaigning against dealers, but anyone who was part of the internet group can verify this. This person went on in this way offending many for nearly a year until National removed the chapter status, and banned him from membership.With this in mind you may be able to understand why I can't accept LEAP, as great an idea as it is. Thanks, Jeff
Hemptopia - Our Greener Future
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Comment #12 posted by potpal on April 16, 2007 at 06:05:32 PT
420
"420" has evolved into an unofficial marijuana holiday. No...it's official!! And around the corner. A celebration of cannabis culture around the world!NORML ought to set up across the street or some anti-prohibition org.As far as the violent weed goes, give it up, the more potent the pot the more attraction the couch may have to the potter. It is really hard to be violent from a horizontal position.Cannabis prohibition is a crime against humanity.Like Toker says, 'Toke'.
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Comment #11 posted by ekim on April 15, 2007 at 20:14:40 PT
Hey C-M
have you read about the Leap officer that is from Denverplease do and see if you can get him to one of your events.
http://blog.leap.cc/
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Comment #10 posted by Toker00 on April 15, 2007 at 16:42:39 PT
That's right, JT
How can they take something back that never belonged to them to begin with?Toke.
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on April 15, 2007 at 10:57:59 PT
Oooooh...
SCARY red hairs. Reaching out for you to do terrible, terrible things. Devil hairs! Ooooooohhhh!Hairs! Red! Oooooooh. Scary!("Don't taste! Don't touch!")Oooooooh...
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 15, 2007 at 10:39:56 PT
Red Hairs
That is just normal marijuana. Years ago it was called Panama Red that's all in my opinion.
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Comment #7 posted by Truth on April 15, 2007 at 10:14:02 PT
really?
"Local research has revealed that marijuana, trivialized by many as a harmless substance, is the most widely used illicit drug among youth in San Diego County. Nineteen percent of San Diego County 11th-graders surveyed reported using marijuana in the past 30 days"Did local research consider alcohol or tobacco? Maybe they think these are legal drugs for teenagers.Post number two cracked me up..."The marijuana looks like a normal plant except that it has reddish fibers. "What, "normal marijuana" doesn't have pistils? This journalist is 1st grade at best.
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Comment #6 posted by Christen-Mitchell on April 15, 2007 at 10:11:10 PT:
Boulder Celebrates!
There are new guns in town. Four very smart hotties at the University of Colorado at Boulder have started the newest chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and they have plans. First on their list is 420.......................
Boulder's annual party at Ferrand Field draws one of the largest crowds in the country on the National Cannabis Holiday. School administrators showed their ignorance last year by turning the event into snitch city. They have incapacitated the field this year, so....................
The action begins at 11am at Norlin Quad with a rally and an address at noon by Mason Tvert of Safer. A shift will take place to the FMC Fountain area and music will begin at 6 with the likes of Bongolove, Gorillas, Drakon, Turoke, Varlet, Out-D and the 303 Boys.
If that's not enough, Hemptopia.org will bring it on the next day at Boulder's Central Park. It's a 421 with a daylong Jam, hopefully headed again by ChuckWagon Express starting at Highnoon. Why compete................Here's wishing everyone a Happy 420!
NORML CU
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 15, 2007 at 09:20:54 PT
How About 4/21
That would work. They always are a day late and years behind the majority of people.
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Comment #4 posted by John Tyler on April 15, 2007 at 08:51:28 PT
Get your own day
420 is our day. Go get your own day.
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Comment #3 posted by RevRayGreen on April 15, 2007 at 08:25:05 PT
Explain the violence
is it a result of using said "superweed" or those involved with selling it ?
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 15, 2007 at 07:57:39 PT
News Brief from ABC15.com
New Form of Marijuana Blamed for Violent Crimes*** By Angie HoldsworthApril 14, 2007 A powerful form of marijuana is growing in popularity among club-goers and teens. Phoenix Police say it is responsible for many violent crime in the Valley. It's called "chronic" most commonly. A normal marijuana plant has a THC level of 2 to 5 percent...chronic's is at 28 percent and higher. The drug sells for $500 an ounce. Compare that to $500 a pound for normal marijuana. Police say the drug used to be grown outside the country and transported in. But over the past two years it's being grown more and more in California which is increasing its transport into the Valley. The marijuana looks like a normal plant except that it has reddish fibers. Copyright: 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co.http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=1818caad-a526-4d1d-a981-6bae85e353e1
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Comment #1 posted by RevRayGreen on April 15, 2007 at 07:47:54 PT
Carpe Diem this
I wonder how many high school kids that attend this charade are on, or have been on, anti-depressants,other ADHD medication.
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