Willie Nelson Calls On President Biden To Make 4/20 A National Holiday

It seems like every day is 4/20 for cannabis enthusiast Willie Nelson, but the country singer wants to make April 20 a national holiday. Nelson has called on President Joe Biden to make 4/20 an official national holiday, according to the Daily Wire.

A petition to make 4/20 a federal holiday was started by Nelson and his organization Luck Reunion, which is a “movement dedicated to cultivating and spreading the culture of Luck, Texas and the evolution of our American roots.”

“April 20th, known in these parts as 4/20, has long been celebrated as a holiday in smokey circles throughout this fine country, but in reality for cannabis users, one day just isn’t enough,” the letter addressed to President Biden states.

They not only want Weed Day to be a holiday but have high hopes of making April 20 through April 29, which is the birthday of Nelson. The group is aptly calling the nine days the “High Holidays.”

“We believe that recognition of the ‘High Holidays’ opens the door to much needed dialogue supporting the many benefits of cannabis while helping to remove the unjustified stigmas currently surrounding this amazing plant,” the petition states. “Please puff, puff, and pass this to your friends in Congress for consideration.”

On the topic of weed, Willie Nelson previously said, “I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?”

The petition has over 2,200 signatures at the time of publication, but that number is expected to get higher on 4/20.

While the High Holiday won’t be a federal holiday in 2021, Nelson will be attending the “Luck Summit: Planting the Seed,” a “multi-day virtual summit, held on the Hopin platform, seeks to destigmatize, educate, and promote cannabis culture in an informative and entertaining way.”

“During the summit, Luck Presents and cannabis advocates will discuss the plant from a political, ethics, economic, wellness, community, industry and science point of view,” the website for the event proclaims. “Expect a lot of laughs and a few surprises along the way.”

The meaning of 420 is when weed aficionados spark up at 4:20 p.m. or on April 20. The origin of 420, much like potheads on 4/20, is a bit fuzzy.

“Some say ‘420’ is code among police officers for ‘marijuana smoking in progress,'” according to Time. However, Mental Floss dismisses that rumor: “You may have heard that 420 is police code for possession, or maybe it’s the penal code for marijuana use. Both are false. There is a California Senate Bill 420 that refers to the use of medical marijuana, but the bill was named for the code, not the other way around.”

Others say 420 comes from the Bob Dylan song Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 because 12 multiplied by 35 equals 420.”

BBC explains another story on 420’s origin:

The 4/20 celebrations have taken off in the last few years, but their origins appear to lie in the escapades of a group of friends from San Rafael high school, northern California, in 1971. That autumn, the five teenagers came into possession of a hand-drawn map supposedly locating a marijuana crop at Point Reyes, northwest of San Francisco.

The friends, who called themselves the Waldos because they used to hang out by a wall, met after school, at 4:20pm, and drove off on their treasure hunt. They never found the plot. “We were smoking a lot of weed at the time,” says Dave Reddix or Waldo Dave, now a 59-year-old filmmaker. “Half the fun was just going looking for it.” The group began using the term 420. So did friends and acquaintances, who included, at a couple of steps removed, members of the Grateful Dead rock band. The term spread among the band’s fans, known as Deadheads.

There you have it, now that you learned about 420, go enjoy 4/20.