cannabisnews.com: Numeric Terms Abound in Drug Culture and Elsewhere Numeric Terms Abound in Drug Culture and Elsewhere Posted by FoM on April 17, 2001 at 22:47:02 PT By Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer Source: Post-Gazette If you're 420 and just finished your 1040, you could end up as a 302 case. 10-9, you say? In plain English, that means: If you're smoking pot after doing your income taxes, it could make you crazy enough to be involuntarily committed to a hospital. Say again, you say?Numeric and alphabetic codes abound, but a cottage culture has developed around 420 -- pronounced four-twenty. A 30-year-old euphemism for smoking marijuana, 420 is a common term among adolescents but doesn't register with boomers, or some drug and alcohol counselors. "I never heard of it," said Tim Grealish, who works with 18-year-olds as part of his job as director of community services for Greenbriar Treatment Center. But he said it's not unusual for drug terms used by some to mean nothing to others, and it can vary from high school to high school."Terms that might be used at one school -- like 'ghee' for pot, as in 'let's smoke some ghee' -- might not be understood" at another school, Grealish said. Chances are, he said, "they'll smack him and say, 'What do you mean?' "The term 420 is one in a long line of names for marijuana, coming on the heels of the likes of "Mary Jane," "grass," "bud," "tree," "hooch," "dope," "chronic" and the granddaddy of them all, "reefer."There are varying stories relating to the origin of the term 420, but the man speaking most loudly about its roots is Steven Hager, an editor with High Times magazine. According to Hager, the name originated with California high school students in 1971, who often met at 4:20 p.m. to smoke pot. Hager is also the founder of the Cannabis Cup, an annual gathering that establishes an international standard for cannabis, or marijuana, seeds.Numerous apocryphal stories about 420's beginnings have been bandied about. One is that it was a California police code for "marijuana smoking in progress"; another that it was the exact time that the first dose of LSD was ingested.Regardless, a number of Internet sites have sprouted as part of the 420 culture, including ones hawking products, clothes, girls using products and not wearing clothes, magazines, records and books.And tomorrow through Saturday, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, is holding its annual conference in Washington, D.C., called "4/20 -- A Celebration of Personal Freedom." NORML's news release says the dates were chosen "to coincide with '4/20,' the date that has become associated in the popular culture as a special day for marijuana smokers -- sort of what 'Miller Time' has become to beer drinkers."The cleverness of NORML's meeting date is lost on Diane George, drug and alcohol prevention supervisor for the Women and Family Center with Mon-Yough Community Services. She's a frequent visitor to schools in seven different Allegheny County school systems."Isn't that nice -- to tell the kids that that's National High Day," George said. "I don't agree with that at all."As with most aspects of popular culture, permutations of 420 have already occurred. According to High Times magazine, there are "8:40 Clubs" in which people smoke twice as much as the 420 people do, and the 210 folks, who want to get an early jump on the 420s.As for the other codes used at the beginning of this story, 1040 is the number of the main federal income tax form; 320 is the number of the statute used for involuntary commitments; and 10-9 is a police code that means "repeat."Of course, marijuana isn't the only product with a code. If someone's talking about the R-420, it's not a reference to a new strain of seedless pot; it's a 1,000-watt microwave from Sharp. And 420 knotless nylon is just what it calls itself.Club 420 also has nothing to do with marijuana. It's a club for Johnson 420, a dinghy with a spinnaker and trapeze that's raced by more than 150 yacht clubs and schools.But not every business is afflicted with numerical jargon, as a random sampling of the Yellow Pages showed. Take Steamatic of Greater Pittsburgh, a South Side air duct cleaning business. One might think of some product or process there would have a digital shorthand, but no."We keep the English language here," said Steamatic's Chip Marcucci.Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)Author: Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff WriterPublished: Wednesday, April 18, 2001Copyright: 2001 PG PublishingContact: letters post-gazette.comWebsite: http://www.post-gazette.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/High Timeshttp://www.hightimes.com/Three-Day Forum Will Be Broadcast Live on Internet http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9394.shtmlNORML 2001 Conference Washington, D.C. http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9388.shtmlLive WebCast - April 19, 2001Live Coverage of the NORML 2001 Conferencehttp://norml.org/calendar/conf2001livewebcast.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 18, 2001 at 10:52:58 PT On The Lighter Side Pot Bust Uncovers Guard Gator, Police SayGator Well Fed According To Wildlife ManagerMIAMI, 9:19 a.m. EDT April 18, 2001You've heard of guard dogs, but what about a guard gator? That's what police say they found when they made a huge pot bust Tuesday night. Officers say that they entered a Miami house, found 25 pot plants, an additional 10 pounds of marijuana in the refigerator, and keeping an eye on the stash was a 5-foot long alligator. "We can't say for sure what they were feeding him, I can tell you that they were feeding him well," Todd Hardwick of Pesky Critters said. "This alligator has excellent body weight, very alert, just a perfect alligator." Investigators believe that the stash the gator was guarding is worth about $125,000. No arrests have been made yet. Police are trying to find the homeowner. Web Site: http://www.click10.com/index.htmlCopyright 2001 by Click10.com What's New [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on April 18, 2001 at 10:41:26 PT Rode Hard But Put Away Wet It's true some of us are elderly. Bummer. We care though. We are a little worse for wear but we are like the Energizer Bunny! Maybe young people blame us for not having the laws changed but we didn't have the Internet and until it was developed it was easy to keep us all divided. We will win now! FreedomToExhale [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by kirk420 on April 18, 2001 at 10:30:09 PT calm down calm down man... no need to get that upseti too am young, and understand what these peple are saying, no specific person made it up for us "young people" there's no special requirements, so just chill man. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by CongressmanSuet on April 18, 2001 at 07:49:43 PT: Woah..HempGod... without help from the "Elderly" people here, your movement would be dead! The youth of today are remarkable in many aspects, one of which seems to be their willingness to agree with their parents, and tote the party line, in attempt to get parental approval for their actions and thoughts. Kids today are willing to go down the hedonistic road, but dont give much thought as to what the big picture really is. The "Lexus is in the garage" mentality takes over, as you have been programmed to believe, and the real reason behind the movement [personal freedom] is obscured. The youth of today are not nearly as outspoken or ideal minded as they were when I was younger. In other words, you need all the help you can get, wheras 20 years ago, we didnt need any help, we had confidence that right would prevail. Over 30? You were the ENEMY.Alas, we were wrong and simplistic, and truly believed we could change the world. Time to stop thinking "out of the box" so to say, and join hands for a noble cause, time to start intelligent, critical conversations, time to join ranks and fight together, not all "old" people are your enemies, its time to come together and once and for all, GET THIS DONE. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Cuzn Buzz on April 18, 2001 at 07:24:47 PT: 4:20 Classes used to let out at Berkley at 4:15, 4:20 was the time for lighting up a muggle, or reefer, or joint or bone.Hempgod, we were all young once, and believe me most of us were complete enigmas to our elders.Ever Hear the term "Hutsut Ralston Sittin on the rillarot?"Think you could explain it?How about "23 skidoo"?Care to sing the "Neato beato flat on my seato, back to Hirohito Blues?"We have been Vipers, Hep Cats, beatniks, hippies,and freeks.Every generation does it's best to shock the last one, you kids today have no idea how much fun we had...bet ya'll don't even have love-ins.O U Kid.L8RG8RPSPlease do try not to be such a potty mouth when posting here [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by lookinside on April 18, 2001 at 05:04:48 PT: sanity? hempgod... you got here too late...smokin wasn't invented when youlatecomers got here...i quit smoking 8 years ago, and burnedfor 25 years before that...i still don't trust anyone over30...for good reason...i still call it herb...goodservicable name...BTW i quit because of some very stupidworkplace pee testing rules...hope we get that BS stoppedbefore you are old enough to get a job, or you may not beemployable... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by The GCW on April 18, 2001 at 04:40:43 PT Colorado Voted 420 A few years ago, Colorado got petitions together to put the medical use of cannabis before the voters (1996). Then Colorado Secretary of State said there was not enough signed petitions to put it on the election ballot, even after being forced to recount them. But it was too late and it was on the ballot YET SHE SAID IT WOULD NOT COUNT! THEN, she Died WHILE in office, AND THEY FOUND ENOUGH UNCOUNTED SIGNED BALLOTS IN HER DESK TO HAVE MADE IT LEGAL. SO, they automatically put it on the next ballot! Through her death it automatically went form Amendment 19 to AMENDMENT 20, AND IT WAS KNOWN AS VOTE FOR 20!!!!!&!WHO DO YOU SUPPOSE....Our Creator?......Kinda like a sign. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by dddd on April 18, 2001 at 00:52:41 PT HEY HEMPGOD Dont be throwin' around all this crap against us older brothers,and sisters.I was 420 when you were sperm.There's no need to aim your line of angryjive in the direction of those of us who are working to make things betterfor the 420 generation.......Your anger is aimed in a STUPID direction.May JAH shine on you,and enlighten your young 420 ass!......dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Random_ on April 17, 2001 at 23:54:03 PT refarding numeric terms, 420 Ahhh, so that's what 420 means, kind of. I've been seeing those numbers asspciated with marijuana for a while and never knew it's origin, nor did anyone who I asked who used the term.To me, 4/20 is the day I will be released from probation for ... you guessed it, a marijuana crime. I must appreciate the irony, and will be celebrating by going 420.:) [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by HEMPGOD on April 17, 2001 at 23:48:48 PT "MARY JANE" = MARIA JUANA= MARIJUANA JUS ANOTHER STUPID KIND OF STUPID SHIT YOU PUT ON HERE.....420 IS OUR CODE, WHO CARES IF IT MAKES SENSE OR NOT, YOU OLD PEOPLE ARE JUS MAD CUZ YOU DONT UNDERSTAND OUR LINGO, PLUS 420 IS THE POLICE CODE FOR BUD, AMONG OTHERS ARE "MARY JANE", OK THIS COMES FROM THE SPANISH NAME MARIA JUANA....PUT IT TOGETHER AND YOU GET MARIJUANA JUS DROP THE A...."GRASS" DO I EVEN HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT.....I GOT LOTS OF OTHER NAMES FOR IT...THERES NO LOGIC TO IT, THERE THINGS FOR US THE YOUNG PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND.....LIKE THE LATE SUBLIME SONG SAID "CANT FIGHT AGINST THE YOUTH!!!" FUCK ALL THIS SHIT AND SMOKE A "JOINT" AND GET FUCKED UP.... [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: