Iowa School, On Pulse Of Youth Culture, Warns Parents Of Something Called 4/20

04/20/2012 1:00 pm by

A school in the area of Des Moines, Iowa, sent out an email to parents this week, warning them about a phenomenon known as 4/20. Because it’s new, apparently? And because parents in Iowa are so very sheltered from the world, that they’ve never heard of it before? I’m not sure if I’d be more amused to receive such an email, or legitimately concerned about the brain trust that is responsible for the education of my kid.

anti drug ad Iowa School, On Pulse Of Youth Culture, Warns Parents Of Something Called 4/20

Maybe you have to see the letter to understand:

 Stilwell Families:

April 20, may be a holiday for your teen.

4:20 or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is a term used as a discreet way to refer to the consumption of marijuana and a way to identify oneself with the drug subculture. Marijuana users observe 4:20 as a time to smoke together and April 20 has become a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume marijuana.

4:20 has become a code for a time to get high, a symbol of marijuana and its culture. Teenagers believe they can talk about getting high in front of their parents without them knowing by using the phrase 4:20. Fortunately, your teenager will not have that option. April 20 events are international and 4:20 has become a worldwide “burn time.” For parents, it’s a red flag, a warning sign that your teenager may be into something that could harm their future. When you see the symbol 4:20 or your child wearing excessive green clothing on April 20, beware of what it represents. April 20 has now become National Pot Smokers Day.

Our pop culture is pro-marijuana, as evidenced by the success of movies and celebrities who flaunt their use. This makes it more difficult for parents to get anti-drug messages across to kids. Use 4:20 as your opportunity to get a dialogue going about drugs, and not just marijuana.

Excessive green clothing?!

And this isn’t a letter from 1954, you guys! IT’S FROM THIS WEEK. (And I won’t even address the noun/pronoun agreement issues and abuse of the comma, ZOMG.) I wonder what these administrators would have to say if a parent replied with discourse about medicinal marijuana.

So, anyways, I was thinking that, if this district is really trying to bring its families out of the dark ages as far as COMMON KNOWLEDGE goes, I’d help them draft a couple other emails for local families.

text speak 600x424 Iowa School, On Pulse Of Youth Culture, Warns Parents Of Something Called 4/20

Here’s one for the breaking development of something called the Internet:

Stilwell Families:

Your children may be talking to strangers before your very eyes.

The Internet (also referred to, in code, as WWW or the “world wide web”) is a tool that your child may be using to pursue dangerous activities. A new development, called Facebook, allows individuals to connect with TOTAL STRANGERS. In fact, many of the kids with Facebook accounts use something called TEXT SPEAK, which is a code language meant to hide things from grown-ups and parents. Common terms to be alert for:

LOL: “Lollipop on the loose.”
BRB: “Burning R bras.”
WTF: “Waxing the fruit bat.”
IAPGTGOTAMRPLC: “I am probably going to go out tonight and make really poor life choices.”
8008: The word “boob” spelled out with numbers on a calculator.

The school has resources available to you, should you be interested. Visit the library’s card catalog for more information.

I mean, seriously.

It’s not like I think the school has bad intentions, really, but I think they could probably have picked a better way to talk about drugs with their student body than using the age-old marijuana scare-tactics. (Many of which have been disproved, for the love of Bob Marley.)

Am I advocating drugs? Hell no. I hope to Haedes that my kids make less than 1% of the life choices I did as a teenager and young adult. But I also realize that the best way work through this type of nonsense is not through ZOMGFREAKOUTPANIC! but through calm, rational discussions about modern pressures, consequences, and cold, hard facts.

What do you think? How do you plan to talk to your kids about drugs?

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About Kristine Cook

Kristine knows who Arcade Fire is. Sadly, she is also familiar with Teresa Giudice's bubbies, Justin Bieber's hair, and Kanye's tweeting habits. She blogs at Wait in the Van

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=723856406 Ann Bibby

    Well, of course they meant well. That’s a given. And speaking as a former teacher (from Iowa no less), I can tell you that the topic of drugs and alcohol is not the only topic that educators wish they werenn’t forced to deal with by school boards and idiotic state legislatures.

    But, and this is just an fyi, pot smoking teens – in my experience – sometimes tip from social use to outright abuse lot more more easily than adults do. I worked primarily in drop out prevention the last few years I taught and had to sit down more than one kid to point out the cold hard fact that they simply weren’t genius enough to come to school stoned and actually get any learning done.

    It’s easy for we adults to chuckle about the 1950′s tactics but teens can be mislead by our flippant attitudes into believing that smoking pot can’t even possibly get in the way of the things they need to do to one day be an adult chuckling about stuff like this. jmo

    • http://www.waitinthevan.com Kristine

      I agree with you that it should be taken seriously. I just don’t think taking the 1950s stance is a good technique. That’s where my flippancy was directed.

  • http://twitter.com/Avath Avath

    When I have kids, I would rather they smoke a joint on the weekend than binge drink alcohol. I don’t drink or smoke, though I’ve tried both (a lot!) and honestly… Instead of grinding on the closest fe/male form next to them and getting in fights, I would rather they carefully measured out the exact amount of milk and butter to make the perfect batch of mac and cheese while listening to some sweet ass tunes and thinking “I’ve never experienced my toes so ALIVE before, my GOD I have been BLIND TO LIFE ALL THIS TIME. GOD IS IN EVERYTHING.”

  • The Fairly Odd Mother

    Personally, I think the world would be a happier, kinder place if pot were legal and alcohol were not. I spent a weekend at a Phish show (can’t stand the music BTW) and it was the happiest, calmest, friendliest 100,000 people I’ve ever been around. Contrast that with at a bunch of frat guys with a case of beer –they’ll be breaking shit in an hour.

    That said, I rather my kids do neither and hope I have a few years to come up with my PARENT SPEECH about this. 

    And, BTW, this is the funniest post I’ve read in a while. 8008 made me LOL. Though I’ll be on the outlook for excessive green clothing for the rest of today. I think I’ll point and scream “POTHEAD” at anyone I see wearing it.

  • Morningblue

    For what it’s worth, I am 43 years old and I had never heard of 4/20 until last year. And then I had to look it up on Urban Dictionary to figure out what it meant. That letter to parents was ridiculously (and hilariously) worded but I do think that the health risks of pot smoking are more significant that many people think. There is clinical proof that frequent pot use greatly increases the risk of infertility and (the most aggressive form of) testicular cancer in men. I think it is extremely important that my three boys know this information so they can make informed choices, even if they are poor choices.

    • http://www.waitinthevan.com Kristine

      Ha! Well thanks for coming forward. I honestly thought it was pretty common knowledge, but I *did* go to a pretty badass high school ;)

      And I agree! Present all the facts! Don’t obsess about “excessively green clothing.” Sounds like you know what’s up!

  • SuzyQuzey

    Thank Jeebus you mentioned the comma abuse! That really annoyed me.

    It is both funny and sad that that letter is from 2012 and not some Back to the Future spoof. REEFER MADNESS!

    • http://www.waitinthevan.com Kristine

      Right? Great minds, Suzy Q

  • http://decksidethoughts.blogspot.com Cheryl

    Did you know that Mark Harmon’s character on NCIS was raised in Stillwell? Not the one in Iowa, the one in Pennsylvania. (I should write here because my knowledge of pop culture is magical.)

    You pretty much lost me at “excessive green clothing.” Besides, the clock had just ticked over to 4:20 so I had to boot out of here.

  • DianaCLT

    Admittedly, I didn’t know what it meant til five years ago. Shortly after my daughter was born…
    Yup. Her birthday is 4/20. Her pre-scheduled birthday is 4/20. It is very common for people to hear this, and have a huge grin spread across their faces as they point at me and say. “Stonerrrrr!” Uh. No. Had no clue what it meant prior to Lilly’s birthday. And I went to a MAJOR stoner high school. I just didn’t partake in it (I just drank a lot, and was thus considered a prude.). Considering 4/20 is also Hitler’s birthday, I’ll take all the 4/20 references any day!…
    BTW, just learned that it’s also George Takei’s birthday, and that is pretty awesome. :-)

    • http://www.waitinthevan.com Kristine

      It’s got a lot of negative connotations (Columbine, Hitler, etc.) which is unfortunate if you feel like watching the news on your birthday. But my husband’s birthday was yesterday, too, so we just avoid the news :)

  • http://twitter.com/swisspotluck swisspotluck

    Thank you for the great laugh!  Our (I called in the husband when I saw how funny the post would be) favorite part was:   IAPGTGOTAMRPLC: “I am probably going to go out tonight and make really poor life choices.”

  • mama

    My parents are immigrants. They definitely did not know what 4/20 or 4:20 or four-twenty meant.  They probably still don’t!  There may not be many immigrants in Iowa, but where I grew up (Toronto and Vancouver) there were more immigrant parents than Canadian, and this kind of info would have been far too helpful!  Thankfully my school sent out nothing like it:)

  • NinaN2

    I really like how they felt they had to include the correct pronunciation of 4:20. Um, how else would you pronounce it????