History 420 And How That Culture Reached Indonesia

JAKARTA - Celebration of 420 or International Ganja Day falls every April 20. Various opinions have emerged to explain where the term 420 actually came from. Some believe that figure is the amount of the active chemical in marijuana, while others consider 420 to be Dutch tea time.

In addition, many consider 420 to be the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday. And there are also those who associate the legendary song Bod Dylan Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35, the number 12 times 35 equals 420.

But in fact, quoting History, the title 420 can be traced back to the story of five teenagers from California who used to hang out outside the walls of the San Rafael school. They are called the Waldos Gang because they often hang out on the walls of the building. The five people include Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich.

It all started in the fall of 1971, when the Waldos Gang found information about a member of the coast guard who had grown marijuana and could no longer care for the plant. Armed with a treasure map that allegedly points to the field, Waldos will gather under the statue of Louis Pasteur outside the school to carry out a search at least once a week.

Their meeting time is 4.20pm, after sports practice. When they met just in time, they would wrestle in the car smoking pot while exploring the forest of Point Reyes.

In the end, the search for treasure might be a fantasy. The term 420 has been coined and used by high school students as a code for discussing marijuana without their parents or teachers knowing.

They continue to use the term until it has become a tradition and has spread to the wider community, even almost to the whole world.

Waldos members have extensive access and connections with many bands. His father, Mark Gravitch, had many acquaintances for managing luxurious graves. His brother Dave Reddix is good friends with Dead, bass player Phil Lesh.

One of the Waldos members, Capper said, he guessed the term 420 was getting popular backstage at the band in the Winterland area. "When people get together the term 'Hey, 420.' often comes out. So the term started to spread through the community, "Capper told the Huffington Post

The term 420 then reached the ears of journalists. Steven Bloom, for example, a High Times reporter first heard the term during a Grateful Dead concert in Oakland, California in 1990.

As Bloom wanders among the hippies gathered before the Dead concert begins, he finds a flyer that says something like "We'll meet at 4:20 am on 4/20 for the 420s in Marin County."

In short, Bloom then showed the information on the leaflet to the Huffington Post. Of course, in his writing also tells the history of 420 which refers to the Waldos Gang from San Rafael. As a result of that writing the term 420 then went global. Including Indonesia.

In Indonesia, according to the NGO Lingkar Ganja Nusantara (LGN), 420 culture entered Indonesia through several things. First, through Hollywood films such as Cheech and Chong, Pineapple Express, Harold and Kumar, We're The Millers and others.

Second, the cultural penetration of 420 has also penetrated through western music such as Afroman, Snoop Dog, Katchfire, etc. Finally, of course, due to the growing flow of information on social media.

No one can say for sure when this culture of 420 was generally accepted in Indonesia. "However, since 2010 onwards this culture has been quite popular among cannabis connoisseurs," wrote LGN on its website.

According to LGN, the fusion of culture 420 with the Indonesian generation indicates positive things as well as a high sense of curiosity about cannabis. Exposure to films, music, or social media accounts from the outside world often shares information about the properties of cannabis. Some say cannabis can treat diabetes, cancer, asthma, epilepsy, ADHP, autism, bipolar and so on. Not to mention information about cannabis fiber as raw material for ropes and adhesives for boat woods, paper, jeans, building materials and 50,000 derivative products.

Therefore, based on the great curiosity of this generation, LGN continues to encourage to dig deeper into cannabis knowledge. "Don't stop just because we wrote this piece of paper," wrote LGN.

The 420 anniversary has long been transformed into a movement to support worldwide cannabis regulation. And several countries have succeeded in making it happen such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Canada, United States, Macedonia, Croatia, Italy, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Czech, Ecuador, Estonia, Germany, Greece , India, China, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and others.