If you haven't checked your calendar yet today, it is April 20. Or, as the Americans would write it, 4/20.
It has, of course, become synonymous with the smoking of cannabis. Its origins lie in a true story about a group of school kids in 1971 California who planned to search for an abandoned cannabis crop, meeting at 4.20pm.
The story was popularised by High Times, an American magazine and cannabis brand, and 420 is now celebrated as a counterculture holiday across the world, with 4.20pm being the zenith of the day. Smokers often gather at that time on the day to celebrate their love of the drug.
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However, while some US states allow the use of recreational cannabis, the UK currently does not. Here, cannabis is a class B drug.
This means the maximum penalty for possessing it is five years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. Additionally, since cannabis falls under the discretionary warning scheme, police can decide to issue a warning or on-the-spot fine of £90 for possession of the drug, rather than prosecute you. With repeated offences or aggressive behaviour, however, this eventuality becomes less likely.
If you're found guilty of supplying or producing the drug, you can get a maximum of 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. Your penalty in any instance will depend on the amount of the drug you have, as well as other factors such as whether you're taking it yourself or, for example, selling it to others.
If you deal the drug in a home or bar, for example, the landlord or manager can be prosecuted. And according to Frank, the drugs advice service, driving while high on cannabis is "dangerous and illegal. If you’re caught driving under the influence, you may receive a heavy fine, driving ban, or prison sentence."
Despite the various laws, however, Avon and Somerset Police took no action against people who gathered to smoke weed in Castle Park in the centre of Bristol on 420. A force spokesperson explained that they had not received any complaints and so took no action.
The spokesperson said: "We had no calls about issues in Castle Park relating to this and officers did not attend." They added that to the best of their knowledge the force had no contact about the event beforehand.
They concluded: "There are no 101 or 999 logs relating to it on April 20 and from what I can tell there were no covid breaches reported on that day via 101 or online for that area either. Therefore there are no ongoing enquiries in relation to this."
Some campaigners have argued for years that criminalising cannabis does more harm than good. They say it is a drug that can have some health benefits and that criminalising it forces the trade underground, where the safety of the drug cannot be guaranteed, tax cannot be collected, and gangs capitalise.
However, the government has argued that "there is strong scientific and medical evidence that cannabis is a harmful drug which can be detrimental to people's mental and physical health".
