It was April the 20th , 2011 and a sunny wednsday afternoon with no clouds in the sky. 5 local mancunion herbalists* arrived at Plattfields Park ,Fallowfield, armed with BBQs, banners, blank canvases, and of course….. lots of very smelly weed. *(a word used to describe one that indulges in regular use of cannabis without fitting into the lazy stoner category, and at the same time taking pride of their fondness for marijuana)

The aim was to create a gathering to celebrate the use and protest against the criminalisation of cannabis and hemp, like almost every city in the world that meets on the same basis at the same time every year. This was 4/20 Manchester.

The organisers chose a location carefully as to make sure that the public were able to avoid the gathering had it been they disagreed with its motives or purely felt they didn’t want their kids to see, whilst at the same time allowing easy access if they wished.
The area of the park was scattered with statements pinned to trees, such as;
“Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?” by Henry Ford. Many dressed all in green and some even wore face paints. This was a family event too. Many parents brought their children down. Some disapproved. The way I feel is that lots of parents take their children to a beer garden, why not to such an event as this? Education not prohibition kids …(and parents!)

Anyway….. by 2pm there was around 400 people, all ages, races, and walks of life, congregating, dancing, and sharing joints. By 2.30pm the music arrived courtesy of Daylite Robbery, Gash, and the Dub Conductors, and the sky had it’s first cloud of the day, but there was no rain involved here, only a huge mass of smoke coming from hundreds of blazing spliffs, bongs, and chicken cooking on the bbq. A 50 metre blank canvas was drawn on and added by almost everyone in attendance, resulting in some quite amazing pieces of art! So with sunshine, art, good food, plenty of drink, tumpin reggae, and herbal blends all round, some would call it Living the High Life.

The event continued throughout the day and into the evening, even attracting attention (be it positive), from passing families, and elderly folk, bemused as to what could be the cause of such a friendly and creative atmosphere. Could it REALLY be an illegal drug; Cannabis, weed, skunk, chronic, bud, dank? The devils weed? That substance that the government and Tabloids link with organised crime and terrorism (see last weeks article – front page of Daily Mirror “Bin Laden was a right dope”). Yes it was….

Near to everyone in attendance in the cornered off picturesque section in Plattfields Park was smoking when the Old Bill arrived. The Police had two options; option one being to ring back to HQ and get them to send down the whole of Greater Manchester Police to arrest everyone under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, as everyone was taking cannabis, that being the only crime.
Or the second option was to write down in their notepads something along the lines of; “Upon arrival at the scene of the crime, we noticed 400 peaceful polite and creative stoners. To make an arrest would have been a breach of the peace, (and we are of course ‘peace’ officers too), so we left and came back to the station”……
…….No arrests were made. There were however, many reports from attendees of police walky talkys, accompanied by heavy coughing and giggling coming from nearby bushes with smoke bellowing out.