The Real History of 4/20
Everyone has heard of ’420′, we all know it has something to do with smoking pot, but when you ask someone how the day came to be you’re likely to get about a thousand different answers.
Some of the many spurious explanations include:
- It’s the number of chemical compounds in marijuana.
- According to High Times magazine the number is actually 315.
- April 20 is the date that Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin died.
- All of those are incorrect.
- The 20th of April is the best time to plant marijuana.
- Given that various parts of the U.S. occupy different USDA planting zones this one makes no sense.
- 420 is the penal code section for marijuana use in California.
- But Section 420 of the California penal code refers to obstructing entry on public land. On 1 January 2004 the Governor of California signed that state’s Senate Bill 420, which regulates marijuana used for medical purposes. But, the bill came years after the term ’420′ was associated with marijuana.
- It’s the Los Angeles or New York police radio code for marijuana smoking in progress.
- Nope. It’s not a radio code at all.
- Albert Hofmann took the first deliberate LSD trip at 4:20 on 19 April 1943.
- Just a weird coincidence.
- When the Grateful Dead toured, they always stayed in Room 420.
- Dennis McNally, Grateful Dead Productions spokesman says no.
- Something about Hitler’s birthday
- Because that makes total sense.
The true origins of 4/20 according to Wikipedia:
The earliest use of the term began among a group of teenagers in San Rafael, California in 1971. Calling themselves the Waldos, because “their chosen hang-out spot was a wall outside the school,” the group first used the term in connection to a fall 1971 plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop that they had learned about. The Waldos designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 pm as their meeting time. The Waldos referred to this plan with the phrase “4:20 Louis”. Multiple failed attempts to find the crop eventually shortened their phrase to simply “4:20″, which ultimately evolved into a codeword that the teens used to mean pot-smoking in general.
Now you know.
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