4 20: Did Your Teen Celebrate?

Did your teen have special plans for April 20th?
Were there party plans that seemed very important?

There’s a piece of information that you need to know about April 20th… or as it is often called: 4/20 (pronounced ‘four-twenty’).

4/20 refers to the cannabis culture. According to the article on Wikipedia, 4/20 started out at San Rafael High School in 1971, when its students met at 4:20 pm after school to smoke marijuana. The concept of 4/20 has expanded, and has now become a celebration on April 20th – which people often call: ‘pot day’, or ‘weed day’. There are often gatherings of people on April 20th who smoke marijuana and protest for the legalization of cannabis. The Globe and Mail in Canada wrote on April 20, 2010 about people smoking marijuana across Canada during the 4-20 celebrations.

And it’s not just Canadians – this article shares that in the USA – April 20th has gone from just being a day to enjoy marijuana to being a day to advocate and educate for the use of marijuana.

Talking with teens all day in my office has helped me to learn about these things. One teen told me that April 20th was important because of ties in the Rastafari movement and Haile Selassie. The Rastafarian religion believes that Haile Sellassie was the reincarnation of Jesus, and they smoke marijuana as part of their religion. One of my patients told me that April 20th had something to do with Sellassie… As I have researched this on the internet, it seems that the only connection to April is the fact that Sellassie visited Jamaica on April 21st, 1966. That was the closest date that I found related to this. So – it seems that the history is really just the group of high school students who originated the 4/20 ‘movement’. (if someone does actually know of a link between 4/20 and the Rastafari movment/Sellassie – please share it in the comments below).

Why is this relevant on an ADHD blog?

The risk of substance abuse or dependence is higher in people with untreated ADD and ADHD.
My mission is to make sure that you have the information that you need. And there are so many parents of teens who aren’t aware of the significance of things like ’4/20′.

So – be aware – if your teen talks to his or her friends, and says – ‘I’ll meet you at 4:20′ with a smirk – it is almost certain that your teen is saying that they are going to meet to smoke up later on (not necessarily at exactly 4:20 pm!).
If you teen has plans that he or she can’t miss on April 20th – it’s probably to get high with other people who are celebrating ‘national pot day’.

It’s important that you’re aware of what’s going on – and that you are able to start discussions about drug use and how to handle it. At the very least – your awareness can give you the ability to address this with your child’s doctor, and have the doctor see if your child has gone too far and is getting into dangerous drug use.

Remember – the best time to talk to kids and teens about drug use is between 10 and 12 years old – so they’ll have the facts and knowledge well before some ‘cool’ kid offers them the opportunity to try drugs.

Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

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