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Stoners, slackers, recreational and medical marijuana users are posed and ready to fire up those bongs, pipes and joints for the annual 420 Celebration held April 20 each year in cities, basements and garages across America. 
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According to the Denver Post, "Dr. Reefer -- a stoner's, ahem, stone's throw from the CU campus -- is preparing for the unofficial gathering that draws thousands of people to smoke weed, protest drug laws and play a little Hacky Sack.
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"I am sure I'm going to sell out of everything," said Pierre Werner, owner of Dr. Reefer, a medical marijuana dispensary, who is stocking up on green goods and has invited 20-some vendors to set up shop in his University Hill store for the April 20 event.
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An employee at Dr. Reefer's said with the high demand they might not even have stems and seeds by 4:20 p.m. Many medical dispensaries are offering special prices today. $4.20 for an eighth of an ounce.
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The term 420 originated from a group of teenage potheads from San Rafael High School in California in 1971. The teens would meet daily after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the Louis Pasteur statue. .
Since then the popularity of 420 has grown in the cannabis counter-culture movement, with public and private smoke-out parties scheduled in every major city of the country. In New Hampshire the Keeniacs of Keene, New Hampshire have announced that 420 celebrations will continue on Tuesdays in Nashua, starting today, at the intersection of Amherst and Main St. at 4:20pm
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Many celebrations are held in private, while in some states Marijuana organizations choose large public venues for their festivities. High Times Magazine claims they will turn their home base NYC -The Big Apple into The Baked Apple for the day and will host multiple public and private parties around the city.
.In Boulder Colorado where the largest 420 celebration is held 15,000 people are expected to join the happy hookah smoking group who want to gain attention to the recent medical marijuana reform laws in the state say officials with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
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420 Celebrations include NORML's Billboard party in New York City's Times Square where police officers will be out in full force to control the munchies driven crowd of mellowed out marijuna users as NORML unveils their newest advertising campaign.
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When contacted the 420 magazine said that at "4:20 AM on 4/20/10 we will be launching our newly redesigned web site 420Magazine.com. We invite all our members, friends, and guests to visit us this upcoming International Holiday to help celebrate and spread the positive message of Cannabis and Hemp awareness. "
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Carol Forsloff of the Digital Journal in What's Happening with Marijuana in Red and Blue? reports on reform and changes in laws in some states. Forsloff also reported that the Obama administration has tread lightly on the Federal Government's interaction with the states on the matter of marijuana.
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On a visit around the social networking chat room scene at 12:01 am on AOL, Yahoo and IRC, I found there were over 100 chat rooms dedicated to the High Holiday Celebration of 420. One college student claimed to have used duct tape and sealed off the windows and doors to keep the pot smoke inside the room so he and his pals could keep a "contact buzz" going from the thick cloud expected to accumulate in the dorm room from the "sack of weed" they had stored away.
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In general the chatters were chilling out, snacking on candy bars and potato chips and were trading pot stories from over the years. They shared pictures of plants and buds while they rolled doobies or blunts and complained and laughed about the phenomenon of cotton-mouth. The gathered smokers were of all ages and it was easy to recognize the generation they grew up in by the lingo they used when discussing pot growing techniques and the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana.
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One of the funnier fellows named "stonerboy420" offered to blow me a "shotgun" through his computer microphone and said if I turned my speakers all the way UP to "high" I would get a real big hit.
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So whether you attend a large outdoor function like the big parties in Boulder, New Hampshire, California or the Baked Apple (NYC for those of you to stoned to follow this story) . Marijuana Laws and USE vary by state and is Illegal in most states, remember if you're going to stay stoned - stay safe and stay within the law if you want to avoid a ride in the back of police car to memorialize your 420 Celebration.
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Your freedom could be at risk as well as your safety. So unnless you want to eat green bologna at the Maricopa County "Tent City" Jail with Sheriff Joe Aarpaio as your chef. You may want to simply stay home, roll a doobie, fire it up, get stoned then share the back seat of a car with Doogie Howser on the way to the nearest White Castle with Harold and Kumar or pull your drapes shut and pop in the DVD and Puff away.
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* Department of Justice reports short term effects of marijuana use include: memory loss, distorted perception, trouble with thinking and problem solving, loss of motor skills, decrease in muscle strength, increased heart rate, and anxiety.
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terciopelo
Emily Holleman
The Judge
Steve Katz
Bernadine Spitzsnogel
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Comments
Great post, my friend, rated.
with:
multiple sclerosis and other spasticity ailments
asthma
rheumatoid arthritis
cancer chemotherapy side-effects
glaucoma
AIDS wasting syndrome
seizure disorders
Analgesic action and tumor retardation.
Some mental illnesses too.
If I go missing after making that comment...
start the investigation with Big Pharma ;)
Amanda
4/20/2010
Happy4/20
And, Amanda, the Feds will have to get through me first to get to you ;-)
Mary I read your post... excellent story you shared, I enjoyed every single word you wrote!
Studman -Puff n Pass my friend and Thoth my one and only fan on open.salon... this one is on me :-D
What are the dates of the official 420 week/gatherings?
From Lachy