Happy 420 to my cannafriends and families! Today, we celebrate our favorite plant and the help, healing, and happiness that it has afforded so many for so long. Cannabis (aka marijuana) has come a long way over the last few decades and made many positive marks on the lives of its afficionados. Let’s review a few.
The Waldos. No Free Press article about 420 would be complete without first mentioning the Waldos. Here’s an excerpt from the April 2021 Mary Jane’s Guide:
- In 1971, five students at San Rafael High School in California coined the term “4:20” to connote a plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop. Calling themselves the Waldos in honor of their "wall outside the school" hangout, the five students (Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich) designated the Louis Pasteur statue on school grounds as their meeting place and 4:20 pm as their meeting time. The Waldos initially called the plan "4:20 Louis," but eventually shortened it to "4:20". The term then became a code for getting high unbeknownst to teachers and parents. The Grateful Dead had relocated to San Rafael, and on occasion, a few of the Waldos and band members would hang out together. As a result, “420” pollinated globally among the Dead’s subculture. Steve Bloom of High Times first reported on the term “420” and its meaning in the magazine’s May 1991 issue. Today, 420 has become ubiquitous as evidenced by thousands of global events to be held in its honor at 4:20 on 4/20. Fifty plus years later, the Waldos appear to still be going strong. https://420waldos.com/
Editor’s note. The Waldos and the origin of 420 resonate with me because I belong to the same generation and had similar experiences in high school and college. We grew up in the early 1970s, listened to the same music, wore similar clothes, had an equivalent love of weed, and played identical “cat and mouse games” with the police. Those were the days, my friends …
Thoughts on S.B.56. When “last we spoke” in February, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope that Issue 2 (RMLA - Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol) would remain intact, unbutchered by the General Assembly’s S.B. 56 and other proposed modifications. On January 20, 2026, the Ohio Attorney General approved a citizen-led veto referendum to nix S.B. 56. All circulators had to do was collect roughly 250,000 signatures of registered Ohio voters by March 19th, during a brutal winter of single digit temperatures, treacherous ice-covered roads, and 16 inches of snow. Even during the warmest sunny summers, signature drives can be daunting. So, it’s little wonder that the referendum failed. S.B. 56 went into full effect on March 20th.
Some good parts of Issue 2 and the existing law remain:
Homegrow. At 12 plants maximum in a home with multiple adults or six plants with just one person, Ohio is among the most liberal states, with only four others (Michigan, Nevada, and New Mexico) permitting this quantity.
THC Percentage. While the RMLA’s maximum THC of 35% for plant material and 90% for extracts are desirable, the respective S.B. 56 caps of 35% and 75% don’t fall too far from the original percentages in the ballot issue. Both reflect the numbers found in Ohio’s very first medical marijuana bill, H.B. 523. The Division of Cannabis Control can raise these limits.
Available products. Like the RMLA, S.B. 56 contains a wide variety of products to stock dispensary store shelves. For medical, these include oils, tinctures, plant material, edibles, and patches. Smoking and vaping are prohibited. For adult use only: extracts, drops, lozenges, smoking products, vaporization products, beverages, pills, capsules, suppositories, oral pouches, oral strips, oral and topical sprays, lotions, inhalers, seeds, live plants, clones, and pre-rolls.
Months supply. The per-day limits on Cannabis purchases in Ohio equal 2.5 ounces of plant material and/or 15,000 mg of non-plant material (extracts, edibles, oils, tinctures). For medical patients, these quantities can be expanded to four days of supply (10 ounces and/or 60,000 mg) in a single transaction. The maximum amount of marijuana possessed by a patient cannot exceed a 90-day supply. That maximum would be: 90 days x 2.5 ounces = 225 ounces or roughly 16 pounds.
Smoke and Mirrors. Clearly, the General Assembly didn’t want to broadcast their plan to butcher Issue 2 (RMLA). Controversial clauses were thus couched with linked references that clouded their true intent. For example:
3796.062 (A): “No person shall knowingly transport marijuana other than adult-use
marijuana, medical marijuana, or homegrown marijuana in a motor vehicle.” Regardless of science, those three categories are collectively coined “marijuana.” Anything else (not in one of those categories) is illegal and subject to penalty.
That state up north. One of the complaintsabout S.B. 56 has been the demise of Michigan. No, they didn’t lose the Big Ten championship or fold their football team. The hacks who penned S.B. 56 pulled another switcheroo. First, it is and always has been illegal to cross state lines with Schedule I drug. Marijuana has been classified as such since 1970. Penalties for violations can include prison terms and steep fines. Thanks to the Ohio General Assembly, S.B. 56 made those Michigan marijuana jaunts not only ill-advised, but fully illegal. However, the bill fails to succinctly say so,
“Sec. 3796.062. (A) No person shall knowingly transport marijuana other than adult-use marijuana, medical marijuana, or homegrown marijuana in a motor vehicle.”
This legislation defines “marijuana” separately from “adult use,” “medical,” and “homegrown.” Those latter three are “legal;” “marijuana” itself is Illegal. If that sounds convoluted, it is. For now, stay away from Michigan. The Highway Patrol may be looking for you.
Hemp Products. S.B. 56 goes into significant detail describing drinkable cannabinoid (hemp) products and establishing rules for their consumption. These beverages are becoming quite popular, in some cases surpassing alcohol. But Ohio Governor Mike DeWine would have none of it. He took his black sharpie and line-item vetoed almost all hemp clauses. In response, four hemp beverage stakeholders have filed a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court. Another hemp-oriented lawsuit was filed in the Franklin Court of Common Pleas, questioning the convoluted legislative process and the new cannabis penalties. A restraining order suggesting that S.B. 56 contradicted federal law was granted for the whole state.
Incarceration Nation. A much longer section 3796.99 in a prior version of S.B. 56 clearly identified escalating mandatory minimum sentences for possessing marijuana. The current version is much shorter. Maybe lawmakers eliminated jail time? Maybe they saw that incarceration has no place in cannabis policy? Wrong! The General Assembly simply applied its smoke and mirrors. They cross referenced “violations” with other sections of the Revised Code, making the clauses look smaller. This table tells the story. Mandatory minimum sentencing and jail time for simple marijuana possession remain.
Depress Delete – Deny Rights. Harkening back to 2016 and H.B. 523, one of the bill’s hallmarks was the implementation of patient protections: tenancy, child custody, transplant eligibility, and freedom from property seizure and sobriety tests. In so doing, lawmakers showed compassion, caring, and concern for Ohio’s sick, dying, and disabled. These protections have remained in place and protected medical cannabis patients for a decade … until now. Last December, Ohio’s crop of “conservatives” decided to play “tough guy” by cowardly executing a plan to nix patient protections with just “six numbers.” Go to the S.B. 56 webpage and click the PDF link. Scroll down to Section 2 on page 120 (of 139 pages). Look for the six digit number “3796.24.” The words that follow say “existing section” is “hereby repealed.” In other words, six little numbers at the end of a 130-page document cancelled ten years of patient safeguards. The sick can now be arrested, prosecuted, fined, jailed, and sued. Cruelty abounds.
Incarceration Nation. Twenty years ago, we celebrated 420 in silence, lest scrutiny yield arrests, prosecutions, harassment, fines, and jail time. The draconian laws and penalties of the late 1990s marshalled the rapid expansion of over incarceration driven by mandatory minimum prison sentences. In 2006 for example, a simple possession offense begat almost one million arrests (!). Now, thanks to legalization – Ohio medical cannabis in 2016 and adult use in 2023 – Ohio’s arrest rates have fallen by over 90%. For example, there were 18,335 marijuana arrests in 2018. By 2024, that number had plummeted to 1,441. The price of housing just one offender runs roughly $40,000 per year. Dare I suggest that legal cannabis has saved Ohio $675 million? Put that in your ipe and smoke it.
Happy 420!!!
Other “Mary Jane’s Guides” on 420:
2024: “Happy 420 2024! With Gratitude,”
https://freepress.org/article/happy-420-2024-gratitude
2023: “420 – A Historical Perspective,”
https://freepress.org/article/420-historical-perspective
2022: “Happy 420!! Ohio Lobby Day. Plant Peace & Love,”
Happy 420!! Ohio Lobby Day. Plant Peace & Love
2021: “Mary Jane’s Guide: CannaNews You Can Use – 420 Edition,” https://freepress.org/article/mary-jane-s-guide-cannanews-you-can-use-420-editio
2020: “Mary Jane’s Guide: 4/20 in 2020: Share. Care. Peace. Love.”
2016: “4/20 Thoughts by Mary Jane.”
https://freepress.org/article/420-thoughts-mary-jane
Mary Jane Borden is a best-selling author, skilled graphic artist, insightful analyst, and award-winning cannabis activist from Westerville, Ohio. During her 40-year career in drug policy, she co-founded seven cannabis-oriented groups, co-authored four proposed constitutional amendments, lobbied for six medical marijuana bills, penned 120 Columbus Free Press articles, and has given hundreds of media interviews. She is one of the Courage in Cannabis authors, with articles in both editions. Her artwork can be viewed at CannabinArt.com and she can be reached at maryjaneborden@ gmail.com.