- cross-posted to:
- usa@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- usa@lemmy.ml
Saturday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when college students gather — at 4:20 p.m. — in clouds of smoke on campus quads and pot shops in legal-weed states thank their customers with discounts.
This year’s edition provides an occasion for activists to reflect on how far their movement has come, with recreational pot now allowed in nearly half the states and the nation’s capital. Many states have instituted “social equity” measures to help communities of color, harmed the most by the drug war, reap financial benefits from legalization. And the White House has shown an openness to marijuana reform.
(T)he prevailing explanation is that it started in the 1970s with a group of bell-bottomed buddies from San Rafael High School, in California’s Marin County north of San Francisco, who called themselves “the Waldos.” A friend’s brother was afraid of getting busted for a patch of cannabis he was growing in the woods at nearby Point Reyes, so he drew a map and gave the teens permission to harvest the crop, the story goes.
During fall 1971, at 4:20 p.m., just after classes and football practice, the group would meet up at the school’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur, smoke a joint and head out to search for the weed patch. They never did find it, but their private lexicon — “420 Louie” and later just “420” — would take on a life of its own.
This article talks about activism, but the lack of activism is the problem and why I honestly don’t like it. It should be a day of activism, but it’s “let’s all get high and party” instead.
Not only has the drug war incarcerated a huge number of people over a plant that hasn’t even been processed like cocaine or heroin, the medical use is really important. I know because I don’t use it for fun, I use it as a pain modifier for my trigeminal neuralgia and when I don’t have access to it, the pain is much more intense. If 4/20 was about promoting legal use and promoting the medical properties over having a big party, I’d love it, but it isn’t.
If it became “let’s all have a big party” after it is legalized nationally, I’ll join up with the rest of the party team. But until then, I’ll just keep doing my regular activism and ignore any significance of tomorrow as if it’s a special holiday.
And if I’m imbibing on 4/20 at 4:20, it will be because I’m in too much pain, not because I’m celebrating.
(I’m guessing I just pissed a bunch of people off. Oh well.)
Kind of a shit take (like all of your takes are). People are allowed to have fun and be activists. Celebration is activism. Think about gay pride. Having a 4/20 party further normalizes cannabis in our culture.
I don’t think that’s the argument you think it is. Gay bros and corporations have turned it from activism and throwing bricks at cops into a heavily capitalist party. It pink washes a bunch of shitty corporations - Target sponsors my local corporate pride. Remember last year when they pulled everything that recognizes trans people from their pride collection in order to cave to a handful of terrorists? They’re probably going to drop the T again this year, and they’ve already resumed donations to Republicans. And Ron DeSantis is currently doing a genocide of trans people in Florida, but the Gays only kinda care about that.
Fuck the party. Throw bricks at pigs.
This is a terrible attitude to have, not necessarily the anti corporate stuff, but we absolutely shouldn’t be associating the queer community with random violence. Self and community defense are there own issues as there is a higher rate of violence against LGB and especially T people. Anything you can do to help a trans person leave the state of Florida would be infinitely more useful than throwing a brick at a cop. Anything like that will just be used as ammunition by the people trying to say that trans people, drag queens, etc are somehow dangerous to society. It doesn’t matter to most people in Florida that fascists are orders of magnitude more violent, anything done by a trans person will be amplified to an extreme by right wing media.
The violence absolutely shouldn’t be happening today but we need to not forget it also. Our rights are forged in a lot of things including absolutely wrecking shit when we’re cracked down on. But it was also a variety of other things including getting political ins, getting conversations with psychologists, making consistent demands, and our moms. Like seriously I think we understate how much moms of all people got us rights. When queer people were hated stories of mothers mourning their children made people give a shit about AIDS.
But yeah the violence is part of it. But save your brick for a proud boy this June. Don’t worry, you’ll see one.
Sure - there are corporate-washed pride events. But also a teen kid could go to a pride parade and see other gay people, in areas where they might not have access to other queer communities.
And there are tons of pride events that aren’t corporate-washed. The corporate-washing is a byproduct of the mainstream acceptance that events such as pride parades have helped usher in.
I never said people weren’t allowed to.
No, but you’ll be weird and judgemental if they do.
I will?
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I’m the one telling people what I feel it should be and how I will not celebrate it. I don’t care what you or anyone else does.
Why are you insulting me? I didn’t insult you.
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I think it should be another way, but it won’t be, so I don’t care.
Can you really not carry on a conversation without insulting people? I don’t believe for a minute that you’d hurl insults at a stranger like this if you could look them in the eye.
Like you’re being now?
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That was not my opinion. Maybe don’t speak on my behalf?
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The entire post was only about what I personally felt and what I personally should do. I made that absolutely clear in the entire post. I never suggested that anyone else should do anything. At all.
I certainly never suggested that anyone else shouldn’t have a party.
Did you even read my comment to the end or did you just jump in early so you could put words in my mouth?
There’s activism happening around 4/20. My dispensary is getting folks to post their experiences with medical use, and getting them to sign a petition and giving out stickers promoting my state’s recreational bill. Plus sometimes it’s fun to have fun. Having a single day (and time) to make it a cultural event helps with activism by removing the stigma against it.
I don’t celebrate 4/20 because I use it medicinally, but I’m glad it’s a thing if only because it makes everybody forget Hitler’s birthday.
Okay, that’s fair.
Please check out NORML.org
I’ve been a supporter for quite some time. They’re really trying to make a strong grassroots presence and bring change along with peer reviewed studies.
If someone’s angry that’s on them, not you.
Most activists are active year round, not just one day a year. Give them that one day to unwind and show people why the plant isn’t a harmful substance and remind them why they’re fighting to prove it’s right to be legal.
Plus a lot of countries are legalizing in the west. Not everyone lives in the USA.
That’s fine. They can unwind. I won’t unwind until I know I won’t be arrested for treating my pain.
Continuing to pretend this wasn’t your position.
Yeah it’s not like states have been legalizing as a direct result of that activism, or the secondary line who saw those states make money and finally gave in as well!
In my life it has gone from 0/50 in states legal or medical in 1996 to 26/50 states legal and 12/50 states medical 28yr later. Not that the job is done, but you talk like activism is non-existant.
Non-existent? No. Far less than there should be? Absolutely.
Well then I guess get to it, be the change you want to see in the world.
That’s exactly what I’m doing.
I hope you mean like, for real, because posting comments on lemmy is not really activism.
I do mean like, for real.
Well good.