It's 4:20

Okay, so a day late. Then again, considering the subject, does it really matter? For the uninitiated, for a highly debated reason, 4:20 is slang for marijuana/pot/mary jane/the cronic/the lettuce whatever you want to call it. Some people say it is the police code for drug issues in California or some county therein, others have used...oh, I think I have heard somewhere near a dozen explanations, the police code one is just the one I find the most fun.
So everyday at 4:20 potheads and other morons celebrate the official toke-up time. As they go forth firing up their blunts and ripping off a few more brain cells, this is somehow regarded as "cool" whereas people who do NOT alter their consciousness with brain-destroying substances are stupid. Huh?
How, when, why and where did drug use become cool? Much like being drunk...I have never understood why getting blasted, doing oft-harmful and self-destructing things, having the resulting vomiting and hangovers and std's from sleeping with someone you normally would not even talk to is so "cool" and fun.
Why is it that to get a cheap "wwwwwwwwhhhhooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!" all some wanna-be comedian has to do is mention, suggest, or allude to drugs and/or alcohol and their use? A mere "so I was smoking the ganja" brings wild applause, whistles, cheering as if someone had just won an Olympic Gold Medal with a quadruple lutz or some other high point of athletic accomplishment. You can get a bigger, better, longer reaction for saying "I was getting baked" than for doing something useful and valuable...winning a Nobel Peace Prize or something of actual value.
Let's get something straight here. Getting loaded, baked, hammered, ripped, stoned, buzzed, whatever you want to call it...it isn't funny, cool, intelligent, outstanding...it is plain and simple stupid behavior. Nothing good can come of it.
And lest it be thought I am unimformed and mindlessly ranting, yes, I do know the how, when, where...people have a rose-colored view of the "accomplishments" of the hippie movement and the accompanying glorification of the drug culture. Some morons still revere the Doors and the psychdelic posters. The LSD Apostle is still a hero to some people. Memories of dropping acid abound with the idea it was somehow a good thing rather than something that smurfed up lives, destroyed minds, created a class of leeches that contributed nothing to society, led to a variety and breadth of STD's that is TRULY mind-blowing...and to some of the most craptacular "poetry" in history.
Marijuana by any other name and for any excuse, including but not limited to it being "4/20" or 4:20, it isn't cool, smart, or hip...it's just stupid.