April 20, 2012

What Is Your Favorite 4/20 Memory?

April 20, 2012
Weed Bear
Weed Bear
Our early activism days - Weed Bear

April 20th Is Full Of Great Memories For Marijuana Fans

My favorite 4/20 was by far April 20, 2001. My roommate, a friend, and I woke up at 4:15 a.m. To hot box a closet. It wasn’t just any closet either. We called it the ‘ninja closet’ because it was up off the ground and looked like a cupboard, but when you opened it, it was actually a full closet. There were signs that the closet door may have been a new edition, and that the entry to the closet may have been hidden at one time. We always assumed it was a grow room at one point, and so we always piled into it and hot boxed it. We smoked so hard that one of us actually passed out in the closet while the other two sat and laughed.

After recovering from our early bird smokeout with a much needed nap, we began to prepare for the rest of the day’s events. In the late 90’s to early 2000’s, I went to a rally on the Oregon capital’s steps with Ninjasmoker and a group of friends every 4/20. The rally was a peaceful protest against marijuana prohibition, where hundreds of activists would gather and smoke joints on the capital steps. In 1998 I came across a bear mascot outfit that I would wear when my friends and I would throw parties. In 2000 Ninjasmoker had an idea that I should wear it to the 4/20 rally and hand out ‘capri sun’ drinks to the activists, who likely were to suffer from cottonmouth at some point during the rally. We did it in 2000, and people were very happy to see the ‘Weed Bear.’

In 2001 we did it again, but we brought more drinks, and more joints than the year before. Ninjasmoker drove me to the front of the steps, honked his horn, then I got out of the car and started throwing joints and drinks at the crowd. The crowd erupted, with people yelling, ‘I remember the ‘Weed Bear’ from last year, this rules!’ At each rally there were always police present to make sure the protest remained peaceful. The cops technically can’t do anything about it, because Oregon’s constitution provides for the most liberal free speech laws in the nation.

It took the cops about 10 seconds after the joint and drink toss before they came up to me and stated the following, ‘Since everyone here obviously knows who you are, we’re going to tell you and you can tell everyone else. You guys can smoke as much pot on the steps as you want from 4:15 to 4:45, but if you do it after, or if anyone drives away, we will be forced to do our jobs.’ I then turned to the crowd and yelled as loud as I could, ‘Hey guys, these cops said we can smoke as much as we want until 4:45 so light up every joint you have!’ The crowd went wild, and the cops looked at me like they wanted to punch me in the face. Anyone who knows me knows how happy that made me to stick it to the man, in a bear suit, while smoking hard with my fellow activists. Easily my favorite 4/20 of all time.

What about you TWB readers? What’s your favorite 4/20 memory? I always love to hear people’s stories, so please post them in the comments below. I was able to dig up a picture of me as the ‘Weed Bear’, which Ninjasmoker included as the article pic :)

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