420

budurl.com – 420 is often used as a code for marijuana, and is believed to be derived from a celebration on 4/20 in 1971 when a group of college students decided to light up joints and protest for the legalization of marijuana. It has become a yearly event now, particularly on college campuses, as mass demonstrations consisting of pot smoking students get high while pleading their case for decriminalization of marijuana. In New York City, an anticipated 420 demonstration in Central Park will join the billboard unveiling in Times Square as the two, well, ‘highest’ profile 420 events in the Big Apple. NORML is trying to attract attention to its cause. Its main point is that criminalization of marijuana is ultimately pointless and that pot smoking is no more dangerous, and in fact perhaps less dangerous, than alcohol and prescription drugs. The billboard will highlight the fact that, contrary to popular belief, people are still arrested for marijuana possession and that it is still treated as a crime, even if many believe it’s a victimless crime that has no negative impact. NORML says that arrests for marijuana possession in New York City has grown from 1000 in 1992 to 46000 in 2009. Of course, the effectiveness of NORML’s efforts remains to be seen. 420 has been celebrated since the early 1970’s and it has been called recently the “country’s fastest growing holiday”. And yet, with the exception of some loosening of medical marijuana laws in fourteen states such as …