How Filipinos are Smoking Cannabis on 420 This Easter Sunday

Editor’s Note: The names of sources have been changed to protect their identities.

It is rare that April 20 or 420, the de facto holiday for cannabis enthusiasts worldwide, falls on Easter Sunday, commemorating when Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The date for Easter Sunday changes every year based on the March equinox, or the ecclesiastical full moon, and the last time these two holidays coincided was in 2014. 

The intervals between the years range from five to even more than 100 years. So, for those celebrating 420 and Easter this Sunday, the occasion is set to make the 2025 Holy Week feel holier than usual. 

The term “420” has been linked to various origin stories — from the myth that it was a police radio code for “pot-smoking in progress” to the claim that cannabis contains exactly 420 chemical compounds — both of which have been debunked. It wasn’t until 1998 when a story published in High Times magazine re-traced the modern rituals frequently associated with the 420 colloquialism.

According to the story, in the early ‘70s, five high school students from San Rafael, California, who called themselves the “Waldos,” met beside a statue of French chemist Louis Pasteur outside their high school every 4:20 p.m. before going out to hunt for a secret patch of pot near Point Reyes Peninsula. 

The Waldos called this plan “Louis 4:20,” which was later shortened to 420 as a euphemism for smoking up. 420 quickly spread, as it does in high school, but it possibly broke into the mainstream through California’s Deadhead community (fans of The Grateful Dead) since the Waldos listened to similarly psychedelic bands like the New Riders of the Purple Sage. 

Argie runs a food business in Manila and he plans on celebrating 420 this year with his brother and cousins, doing “chill stuff” like listening to music and watching movies. “I like that there’s a social aspect to it,” Argie says about smoking weed. Conversations while high, he says, are more funny and creative, while other substances, like alcohol, can imply a certain messiness. 

“There’s something about being very blazed and appreciating that, ‘Oh, there’s another human being in the room with me,’ like an awareness gets activated,” Argie suggests.

As someone diagnosed with anxiety and depression, cannabis is a way for Argie to counteract his debilitating inner dialogue — an antidote he prefers over expensive prescription medication. “I mean, there are times [weed] will make you anxious… But when I smoke, it [all] feels less confusing,” he notes, saying cannabis helped him feel less angry than before he started smoking. 

A Sacred Ritual

Self-medicating using cannabis is hardly anything new. The earliest accounts of the substance were written in 440 B.C. by the ancient Greek writer Herodotus, who recounted how the Scythian people used “hemp-seeds” like incense, thrown onto “red-hot stones” as a funeral rite to cleanse people of anguish and sorrow. Today, this might be considered hotboxing, or getting high from weed smoke filling up an enclosed space. 

“Immediately, it smokes, and gives out such a vapor as no Grecian vapour-bath can exceed,” writes Herodotus. “The Scyths, delighted, shout for joy,” which might suggest a good case of the giggles. In 2019, a study published in the journal Science Advances supported Herodotus’ claims after researchers found wooden bowls in a 2,500-year-old cemetery in western China, traced with high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis. 

The Bible alludes to a similar ritual in Exodus 30, which describes God’s instructions to Moses for building a tabernacle. The passage cites it should have “an altar” made of “acacia wood” to “burn incense upon,” and a “sacred anointing oil” containing, among other things, “an aromatic cane.” 

Some historians believe the aromatic cane is actually cannabis, from the Biblical Hebrew translation “qaneh bosem” — “qaneh” meaning “reed” or “stalk,” and “bosem” being “spice” or “fragrance.” Other Biblical translations have referred to the aromatic cane as Acorus calamus, a reed-like flowering plant with calming and mild hallucinogenic properties. Regardless of translation, this illustrates how some plant-based drugs like cannabis are tied to rituals that elevate mood and heighten the senses.

Versus is a self-described “plug” who grows and sells cannabis in Manila (where it is still illegal). This year, she’s closing her online shop and celebrating 420 with a small gift exchange, along with a ganja-infused salu-salo with friends. She says she feels like a “plantita” with her cannabis plants, its maintenance being more complex than ordinary plants.

“I’ve recently learned we shouldn’t be relying on the indica, sativa, and hybrid strains for their effects,” referring to types of weed that make you feel mellow, energized, or both. “We should look into the terpenes [aromatic compounds that determine the smell of plants] because that’s where the effects mostly come from.” 

As an advocate of harm reduction, Versus shares some tips for toking up this 420, which include getting eye drops and staying hydrated. “Go slow, and just do one puff at a time. Cannabis [gets] a bad reputation because people consume too much agad… I believe you can always take more, but you can never take less.” 

“If ever you do green out, accept your fate and wait it out,” she says. “You’ll be back to normal later.” 

At War With Ourselves

While cannabis was used for ritualistic and medicinal purposes in Central Asia and the Middle East for millennia, the Spaniards began cultivating hemp, primarily from the non-psychoactive varieties of the cannabis plant, for industrial use in the 16th century. It began in Santiago, Chile, expanding into Alta California when it was still a province of New Spain (and later Mexico). The practice continued even after California was ceded to the United States in 1848, following the Mexican-American War. 

Cannabis likely arrived in the Philippines through our colonial connections with Spain and America. Maritime trade may have taken place with Indian, Chinese, and Arab traders, but evidence suggesting the use of cannabis in pre-colonial Philippines is still lacking. 

Since the 1970s, cannabis discourse in the country has largely focused on criminalization, reaching its apex between 2016 and 2022 during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody campaign against drug users and pushers. According to the International Criminal Court, Duterte’s drug war killed more than 30,000 people, and many from low-income communities. (In 2018, Duterte admitted — whether as a joke or not — to using cannabis for staying awake during hectic foreign travel.)

It’s also worth noting that the term “marijuana,” another word for cannabis, originates from the Mexican-Spanish slang for cannabis, “marihuana,” and gained prominence in the 1930s when Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics, used the term to stoke xenophobia among Mexican immigrants during his anti-cannabis campaigns. Cannabis has been illegal in the Philippines since 1972, and in 2023, it was the second most used illicit drug in the country after shabu or methamphetamine. 

Veronica sells various cannabis products online, including flowers, vape cartridges, and edibles. She isn’t celebrating 420 this year. “Madaming bumibili tuwing summer, lalo na tuwing 420. So for me, it’s a day spent working,” she says. 

To her, selling cannabis in the Philippines means not trusting anyone, not even her family and friends. “Anytime, any day, pwede kasing may mainis na lang sa’yo tapos isusuplong ka nang hindi iniisip yung bigat ng consequences,” she cautions. “I can’t ever be truly vulnerable, especially since I’m a woman. I know I’ll get it worse if I ever end up in jail.” She admits it’s hard to stop when the economic returns far exceed a corporate job. “Dealing drugs is called ‘trap’ for a reason,” she says, hoping she can save enough money to transition into a “cleaner” career. “Aware kasi akong onti-onti na niya kinakain pagkatao ko at mga pangarap ko na sobrang layo sa kung anong trabaho ko ngayon.”

Where cannabis is stigmatized, guilt over its legal or health implications is a common side effect. In places where it is accepted, cannabis grants a variety of options for those seeking economic or social redistribution. In February 2024, Senator Robin Padilla filed the Cannabis Medicalization Act to legalize research on and distribution of medical cannabis in the Philippines, but only as a complementary treatment to other medicines. 

The bill is pending a second reading in the Senate and, if passed, the Philippines would join five other Asian countries — Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and India — that provide legal provisions for medical cannabis. In 2022, Thailand became the only Asian country to legalize recreational cannabis, and there are efforts in the current government to reverse or regulate it. While passing the medicalization bill would mark a major step in breaking down the stigma of cannabis in the Philippines, how it will address gaps in accessibility and local cultivation remains to be seen — especially in an import-dependent nation where even agricultural staples like rice remain insufficiently subsidized.

In the meantime, having 420 fall on Easter Sunday marks an opportunity to reflect on long-established rituals that predate many of these modern conundrums. “They were burning shrubs in the Old Testament and seeing angels with multiple eyes,” Veronica quips. “I hope Filipinos, despite our conservative upbringing, will embrace a plant that brings joy in this world because we used to be polytheists after all,” referring to the animist traditions of indigenous Filipinos. 

“What’s wrong with using the natural world to heal ourselves?”

Header Photo by Pavel Ševela/Wikimedia Commons