SmokeDog420
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Waco, Texas -- Talking to Rob Ondreas is enough to make a guy get the munchies.
Passionate about pot smoking, Ondreas' face lit up when he looked at his cell phone and saw that it was exactly 4:20 p.m. The wanting look that followed hinted at what he really had a hankering to light up. But, since he was in a public establishment, he had to settle for a laugh at the coincidental time of this interview and an assurance he'd make up for it later.
It was, after all, 420 (that's four-twenty, in pot parlance) that he had met with this reporter to talk about. He was asked what he and his friends had planned for today, April 20 (4/20).
"I'll be smoking, you can count on that," he said, proudly. "I'll get together with some of my crowd and we'll celebrate the day right, probably with some good hydro (a marijuana connoisseur's choice) for a special occasion."
The special occasion is 4/20, and potheads everywhere will fire up at 4:20 p.m. today, if at all possible.
April 20 has become somewhat of a pot smoker's holiday.
Dating back to the early 1970s, the term "420" is a symbol of cannabis culture. Several theories evolved over the years attributing the origin of 420 to, among other things, police code for smoking pot and the number of chemicals in marijuana. Turns out neither of those was correct, but Steven Hager, former editor of High Times magazine, traced it to 1971, when a group of about a dozen pot-smoking students at San Rafael High School in California would gather after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke pot at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur. The term was used by the group as a code for pot around their parents and teachers. "Do you have any 420?" or "Do I look 420?" was common banter, said Waldo Steve, a member of the group, in the High Times story .
The term spread beyond the Waldos, and eventually beyond San Rafael, with the help of the Grateful Dead and its legion of pot-smoking fans. Decades later, the term has encompassed April 20 as a day of unity among marijuana users.
Ondreas, who is 30 and lives in Waco, said he's been smoking pot since he was 18 and has known about the significance of 420 for several years. Now he looks for it everywhere and even carries a disposable camera with him to photograph the symbol whenever he sees it.
"I've got photos of me and my friends around a Highway 420 sign in Canada, in front of buildings with large 420 street numbers and even houses with 420 for an address," he said. "It's just a symbol of something that's important to me, and I'm not shy about it."
The reason Ondreas isn't shy about his pot use is because he's responsible, he said. He's worked for the same company for seven years, pays taxes and contributes to society just like everybody else, he said.
"Responsibility is the key," he said. "People can drink too much and be more dangerous, but since alcohol is legal, they can get away with it. Regardless of the substance or activity, people have to take responsibility for their actions."
Ondreas said he would love to see the marijuana prohibition end but doubts it will happen anytime soon because of the politics involved. He's had brushes with the law but spent no time in jail for his hemp activities.
The use of the term "420" has become more prevalent in pop culture in recent years, said current High Times editor Richard Stratton, because it denotes an esoteric knowledge about something previously reserved for an underground scene.
"It's amazing how it's caught on," he said. "In the last five or six years, it has really taken off. It's one of those hip terms people like to use in certain crowds to try and impress someone."
There are a number of Web sites with 420 as part of their address dedicated to the cannabis culture. Stratton said many businesses catering to the pot-smoking crowd now use 420 somewhere in their name, too.
Mikki Norris, director of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign, started the organization in 2002 so people could come out of hiding about their marijuana use. A section on the organization's Web site has photos and profiles posted by more than 160 people from across the country who not only smoke marijuana but also advocate its legalization. For the most part, the profiles profess to be well-educated professionals, some with doctorates, and include several Christian ministers.
Acts of civil disobedience will take place in several states and towns today, many on college campuses, in honor of 420. In Austin, the Texas chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) will hold a "benefit" at The Vibe, a Sixth street club known for such events.
Sarah Darrouzet, president of the Texas chapter and a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, said she smokes pot several times a week, within limits, and said 420 has become part of American culture.
"It's turned into something like afternoon tea," she said. "The British drink tea; we smoke some pot. It's not that big of a deal to most people, which is why the laws in Texas against it are so silly."
McLennan County (Texas) Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Randy Plemons, a former DARE instructor, said legalized marijuana would make more people a danger to themselves and others by putting a substance that causes impairment in their system.
"There's also the addiction factor," he said. "It's hard to put down and tends to be a gateway to harder drugs as people try to reach that original high. I used to tell the kids to open a bag of potato chips and only eat one and put down the rest. It's hard to resist and that's the problem with marijuana."
Sgt. Ryan Holt, spokesman for the Waco Police Department, was unfamiliar with the term "420" as pot-smoking jargon and said the police have no planned roundup of pot smokers. Since Monday was the anniversary of both the ending of the local Branch Davidian standoff in 1993 and the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, and today is the fifth anniversary of the Columbine massacre, this is a busy security week for the department, he said.
Darrouzet said some students from Baylor University had a NORML chapter in recent years, but she is unsure if they are active anymore.
Jim Doak, director of Baylor's Department of Public Safety, said that other than an isolated incident a few years back when someone wrote 420 on several cars with shoe polish, the day is a non-event around campus.
"We're mindful of it, the officers are aware of it, but there are no planned gatherings that we know of," he said.
"This BMW pulls up with a 'Baylor' sticker emblazoned across the back window , with two typical Baylor 'Biffs' in the front and a 'Barbie' in the back. She pokes her head out, not knowing who we were, and asks us if we know where they can get some vitamin C (a street term for LSD, or acid). I'll never forget that, considering what Baylor thinks about its image."
As for the gateway notion, Ondreas pointed at the beer he was drinking at the time and said that alcohol was the real gateway drug, much more so because of its availability as a legal substance.
"People who have been smoking are a lot safer to be around than people who have been drinking, especially on the road," he said "I've seen people do things, like hard drugs, when they're drunk that they don't do when they smoke. Alcohol takes away their ability to make good decisions more than weed does."
And don't even get him started on the drug war.
"It's ridiculous. Look around. It hasn't stopped anything," he said
Source: AZCentral.com (AZ)
Author: John Allen, Cox News Service
Published: April 19, 2004
Copyright 2004 azcentral.com
azcentral.com: Phoenix and Arizona local news, sports and entertainment
Send questions or comments to azcentral.com | AZ Central
Passionate about pot smoking, Ondreas' face lit up when he looked at his cell phone and saw that it was exactly 4:20 p.m. The wanting look that followed hinted at what he really had a hankering to light up. But, since he was in a public establishment, he had to settle for a laugh at the coincidental time of this interview and an assurance he'd make up for it later.
It was, after all, 420 (that's four-twenty, in pot parlance) that he had met with this reporter to talk about. He was asked what he and his friends had planned for today, April 20 (4/20).
"I'll be smoking, you can count on that," he said, proudly. "I'll get together with some of my crowd and we'll celebrate the day right, probably with some good hydro (a marijuana connoisseur's choice) for a special occasion."
The special occasion is 4/20, and potheads everywhere will fire up at 4:20 p.m. today, if at all possible.
April 20 has become somewhat of a pot smoker's holiday.
Dating back to the early 1970s, the term "420" is a symbol of cannabis culture. Several theories evolved over the years attributing the origin of 420 to, among other things, police code for smoking pot and the number of chemicals in marijuana. Turns out neither of those was correct, but Steven Hager, former editor of High Times magazine, traced it to 1971, when a group of about a dozen pot-smoking students at San Rafael High School in California would gather after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke pot at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur. The term was used by the group as a code for pot around their parents and teachers. "Do you have any 420?" or "Do I look 420?" was common banter, said Waldo Steve, a member of the group, in the High Times story .
The term spread beyond the Waldos, and eventually beyond San Rafael, with the help of the Grateful Dead and its legion of pot-smoking fans. Decades later, the term has encompassed April 20 as a day of unity among marijuana users.
Ondreas, who is 30 and lives in Waco, said he's been smoking pot since he was 18 and has known about the significance of 420 for several years. Now he looks for it everywhere and even carries a disposable camera with him to photograph the symbol whenever he sees it.
"I've got photos of me and my friends around a Highway 420 sign in Canada, in front of buildings with large 420 street numbers and even houses with 420 for an address," he said. "It's just a symbol of something that's important to me, and I'm not shy about it."
The reason Ondreas isn't shy about his pot use is because he's responsible, he said. He's worked for the same company for seven years, pays taxes and contributes to society just like everybody else, he said.
"Responsibility is the key," he said. "People can drink too much and be more dangerous, but since alcohol is legal, they can get away with it. Regardless of the substance or activity, people have to take responsibility for their actions."
Ondreas said he would love to see the marijuana prohibition end but doubts it will happen anytime soon because of the politics involved. He's had brushes with the law but spent no time in jail for his hemp activities.
The use of the term "420" has become more prevalent in pop culture in recent years, said current High Times editor Richard Stratton, because it denotes an esoteric knowledge about something previously reserved for an underground scene.
"It's amazing how it's caught on," he said. "In the last five or six years, it has really taken off. It's one of those hip terms people like to use in certain crowds to try and impress someone."
There are a number of Web sites with 420 as part of their address dedicated to the cannabis culture. Stratton said many businesses catering to the pot-smoking crowd now use 420 somewhere in their name, too.
Mikki Norris, director of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign, started the organization in 2002 so people could come out of hiding about their marijuana use. A section on the organization's Web site has photos and profiles posted by more than 160 people from across the country who not only smoke marijuana but also advocate its legalization. For the most part, the profiles profess to be well-educated professionals, some with doctorates, and include several Christian ministers.
Acts of civil disobedience will take place in several states and towns today, many on college campuses, in honor of 420. In Austin, the Texas chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) will hold a "benefit" at The Vibe, a Sixth street club known for such events.
Sarah Darrouzet, president of the Texas chapter and a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, said she smokes pot several times a week, within limits, and said 420 has become part of American culture.
"It's turned into something like afternoon tea," she said. "The British drink tea; we smoke some pot. It's not that big of a deal to most people, which is why the laws in Texas against it are so silly."
McLennan County (Texas) Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Randy Plemons, a former DARE instructor, said legalized marijuana would make more people a danger to themselves and others by putting a substance that causes impairment in their system.
"There's also the addiction factor," he said. "It's hard to put down and tends to be a gateway to harder drugs as people try to reach that original high. I used to tell the kids to open a bag of potato chips and only eat one and put down the rest. It's hard to resist and that's the problem with marijuana."
Sgt. Ryan Holt, spokesman for the Waco Police Department, was unfamiliar with the term "420" as pot-smoking jargon and said the police have no planned roundup of pot smokers. Since Monday was the anniversary of both the ending of the local Branch Davidian standoff in 1993 and the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, and today is the fifth anniversary of the Columbine massacre, this is a busy security week for the department, he said.
Darrouzet said some students from Baylor University had a NORML chapter in recent years, but she is unsure if they are active anymore.
Jim Doak, director of Baylor's Department of Public Safety, said that other than an isolated incident a few years back when someone wrote 420 on several cars with shoe polish, the day is a non-event around campus.
"We're mindful of it, the officers are aware of it, but there are no planned gatherings that we know of," he said.
"This BMW pulls up with a 'Baylor' sticker emblazoned across the back window , with two typical Baylor 'Biffs' in the front and a 'Barbie' in the back. She pokes her head out, not knowing who we were, and asks us if we know where they can get some vitamin C (a street term for LSD, or acid). I'll never forget that, considering what Baylor thinks about its image."
As for the gateway notion, Ondreas pointed at the beer he was drinking at the time and said that alcohol was the real gateway drug, much more so because of its availability as a legal substance.
"People who have been smoking are a lot safer to be around than people who have been drinking, especially on the road," he said "I've seen people do things, like hard drugs, when they're drunk that they don't do when they smoke. Alcohol takes away their ability to make good decisions more than weed does."
And don't even get him started on the drug war.
"It's ridiculous. Look around. It hasn't stopped anything," he said
Source: AZCentral.com (AZ)
Author: John Allen, Cox News Service
Published: April 19, 2004
Copyright 2004 azcentral.com
azcentral.com: Phoenix and Arizona local news, sports and entertainment
Send questions or comments to azcentral.com | AZ Central
