420 has had a lot of meanings in weed culture. It is the date that Celebrates both the advocation and legalization of Marijuana in all it's forms. It's the slang people use when they want to smoke a joint or do a bong hit. It is also the day most dispensaries and pot shops offer discounts for their products. Who would have thought the thing that has been protested against for almost 85 years in the United States and nearly 100 years in Canada, is now a huge staple in world culture all over.

Up until 2018 in Canada and 1996 in California, everyone from Police, to Politicians to Radical Christian Moral Groups have done everything in their power to destroy this thing, despite it having better benefits than hazards. Saying everything from it funding terrorism to I kid you not, making you Gay, back when Homosexuality was also considered evil by the status quo. In the case of the states, the whole thing started with this fucking movie:

Made in 1936, 1 year before Weed was officially criminalized. While I've first heard of it in a salute to B movies called It Came From Hollywood, I didn't officially watch it until a few months ago. I was lucky enough to even watch it in colour. While this movie was meant to convey the "Dangers" of weed use in a serious manner, there was some over the top shit that would at worst make people laugh and at best make them want to smoke the weed, just to see it. For example. When the movie came out in black and white, they couldn't distinguish Weed Smoke from Cigarette smoke. So when they colourized it, they took extra special care to make the smoke a different colour. When I saw them take the first puff, the smoke was green. Here I thought "Ok, stupid, but a good way to distinguish." However when more and more people are smoking it all sorts of funny colours come out. Initially I thought "What the fuck? Do each of the colours represent a different strain? Like Pink for Pink Kush and Yellow for Hawaiian?" But that's just the tip of the iceberg. According to this movie, those who smoke, dance and laugh uncontrollably, engage in criminal behaviour or in the case of the antagonist, make them play the piano faster:

I want whatever they're really smoking.

Still, that being said as much as I like 420, I think they were asking for trouble when they picked that day. Granted they probably meant nothing by it, but it's a double whammy as April 20 is not only Hitler's Birthday, but the date of the Columbine Massacre. Needless to say much like they latched onto Rock and Roll, Violent Video Games and Movies, the Moral Police latched on to weed. Claiming you support Hitler if you smoke it or you're gonna shoot kids in school if you smoke it.

If Hitler actually smoked Weed, (Judging by how he yells a lot he was heavy into cocaine.), he'd be too stoned, too lazy and too hungry to try to kill 11 million people. As for Dylan and Eric, if anything they didn't smoke enough. Had this shit stayed legal, it would have solved many problems. Not to mention it'd be in abundance by the time a lot of world tragedies came about. You poor fellow, Suffering from the Great Depression? Have a joint. Even if things don't go well and the market stays crashed, you'll at least be in a better mood to deal with them. Hey Osama, pissed off at the people that trained you and your buddies in Afghanistan during the Cold War? Rip a bong between you all. That way you'd be in no condition to hijack a plane and you'd not be a known terrorist and pariah.

Hell honestly, I think whatever problems Putin had that made him nuts, would have been solved a lot quicker if he lifted the ban on weed in Russia and had some parties with his comrades. You'd be surprised how well weed goes with vodka. He'd be passin the joints before Putin them out.

And that's just personal problems. Weed has helped a great deal with various medical and mental health problems as well. THC helps cancer patients eat more, while CBD eases their pains. Indica is a great way to deal with insomnia and Sativa is a great way to deal with lethargy. The possibilities are still endless and ongoing.

That being said, the anti-Pot stuff is not all cringe. Because the people who make the PSAs have no fucking clue on how weed works, there have often been hilarious gems. Such as the classic:

Ya I got a question. What are you on? That's a frying pan with an egg.

Now they use the blanket term drugs in most of these, but I often notice that whenever they go into the specifics, Weed comes up first in every one of them. Higher priority than Cocaine, Crack, Heroin, Speed, Meth. You name it. They treat this shit like it not only kills you by itself, but also leads you to harder and dangerous drugs. Yet THESE SAME FUCKING PEOPLE SINCE THIS WHOLE THING STARTED NUDGE YOU CLOSER TO SMOKING CIGARETTES AND DRINKING ALCOHOL!!! Now I smoke and drink, don't get me wrong, but what the fuck?

My personal favourite was not too long before Justin Trudeau started his campaign for Prime Minister. The major angle he had to get in was the legalization of weed in Canada. The only good thing he's done in my opinion save for his part in aiding Ukraine against the Russian army. So knowing they'd be out of a job soon this PSA shows up:

Now to their credit, they did handle the brain thing better here. Using a glass effigy of a human brain with the weed stains representing damage. That was cool even if it was bullshit. The thing that baffled me though was the main message that Weed today is 300 - 400% Stronger than it was 30 years before this PSA was made. How is that gonna stop people from smoking it? If anything it would make them want to find it more. I saw this commercial in 2014 and even I want that stuff. You said it was stronger so where the fuck is it?

Point being is that as much as some parts of the world changed for the worse, it can't be denied that some parts changed for the better. Especially not listening to stupid shit like that.

So in closing, I wish you all a Happy 420.