Devin Urquhart of Lewiston, whose alias is “Blunt Man” dances in front of Legal Peaces, a head shop on Lisbon Street in Lewiston on Friday morning. “It’s 4/20, my favorite holiday and I’m just rocking out here to get some attention for the business,” Urquhart said. The figure 4:20, also written as 420 or 4/20, is a code-term in cannabis culture that refers to the consumption of marijuana, especially smoking pot at 4:20 p.m. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
In Lewiston, the Lisbon Street business Legal Peaces gave out grab bags to those of legal age. Inside the bag: a marijuana cigarette, a lighter, a piece of candy and a bumper sticker.
The bags went fast. By the middle of the afternoon, they were all gone.
Outside the business, a man dressed as a marijuana leaf danced around on the sidewalk, helping to drum up business.
The Legal Peaces store on Center Street in Auburn also offered grab bags. By afternoon, a sign was posted on the door to alert customers the bags were all gone. Business had been brisk there, as well.
The stores also had barbecues and various other forms of celebrations. Those events were closed to the media.
Some of those who joined in the celebrations said they consider April 20 a holiday: 4/20 comes but once a year, after all. But why, exactly has that number come to represent casual pot use?
It depends on whom you ask.
Some believe the number is based on a police 10-code for marijuana use, although there is no indication that it is or ever was. Others say it represents Adolph Hitler’s birthday, although there’s no explanation of how that relates to pot use.
Most who have researched the topic believe that 4/20 began as a thing in the early 1970s, when a group of students at a California high school began meeting at 4:20 p.m. every day to light up. The magazine High Times wrote an article about the gathering and like that, 4/20 became a part of the marijuana culture.
That’s the theory, anyway.
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