Skip to main content

What is 4/20? How 4/20 became 'Weed Day'

How 4/20 became 'Weed Day'




(CNN)There is something in the air today. Maybe you've noticed.

April 20, or 4/20, is known as "Weed Day" in some circles because the date corresponds with a numerical code for marijuana.

Yes, it seems arbitrary. So how did the number 420 come to represent smoking pot?


First, let's get the myths and rumors out of the way:


The legend of the California penal code

Some claim the number is drawn from the California criminal codes used to punish the use or distribution of marijuana. But the state's 420 code actually applies to obstructing entry on public land. So, not quite.

But the rumor sounds a lot like ...

The legend of the police radio code

Neither LAPD nor NYPD even have a code 420. San Francisco Police have one, but it's for a "juvenile disturbance."

So never mind that theory.

Then there's ...

The legend of the Dylan song

This one is a nod to Bob Dylan's song, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and its lyric, "Everybody must get stoned."

Multiply 12 by 35 and you get 420.

Seems a bit of a stretch. And Dylan himself has never confirmed any link.


The story that appears to hold the most water is ...

12x35 #420

The legend of the Waldos

According to Chris Conrad, curator of the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum in Oakland, California, 420 started as a secret code among high schoolers in the early 1970s.

A group of friends at San Rafael High School in Marin County, California, who called themselves "the Waldos," would often meet at 4:20 p.m. to get high.

For them, it was an ideal time: They were out of school but their parents still weren't home, giving them a window of unsupervised freedom. They met at that time every day near a statue of Louis Pasteur, the scientist who pioneered pasteurization.

CNN Money: 10 things to know about legal pot

The 4:20 time became a code for them to use in front of their unsuspecting parents, and 420 gradually spread from there -- possibly via Grateful Dead followers -- across California and beyond. It's even the number of a California Senate bill that established the state's medial marijuana program.

What was shorthand for a group of friends can now be seen on T-shirts and throughout pop culture.

And of course, on the calendar every April.


By skunty empire

Comments

Post a Comment

comments below

TRENDING

US and Russia to hold talks toward the beginning of January, says Putin

Post a Comment
Read more »��

Lucrative Pop Phenomenon

Post a Comment
Read more »��

Calabar prison inmate who delivered twins last week is dead

Post a Comment
Read more »��

Drinking Water Crisis in Rural Towns

Post a Comment
Read more »��

How to make Peanut Butter-Miso Cookies ?

Post a Comment
Read more »��

Explosion In Manhattan An "Attempted Terrorist Attack", Suspect Arrested

Post a Comment
Read more »��

Trump house on fire

Post a Comment
Read more »��

South Korea holds live fire drills

Post a Comment
Read more »��

Popular posts from this blog

US and Russia to hold talks toward the beginning of January, says Putin

US and Russia to hold talks toward the beginning of January, says Putin. Polina Ivanova and Max Seddon in Moscow Vladimir Putin said the US and Russia will hold dealings about the Kremlin's complaints against Nato and western apprehensions Moscow will attack Ukraine in Geneva toward the beginning of January. President Putin said Russia had seen a "positive response" from the US in the wake of distributing two arrangements of draft proposition last week that would basically revamp the post-cold conflict security request in Europe by making Nato vow not to concede any future individuals from the previous Soviet Union, primarily Ukraine. "The next move's up to them. They need to let us know something accordingly," Putin said at his yearly news meeting in Moscow. He added that he trusted the pressure could be settled carefully. "We want to see how our security can be guaranteed," he said. "Along these lines, with practically no tomfoolery, we just...
Post a Comment
Read more »��

Lucrative Pop Phenomenon

New post Lucrative Pop Phenomenon Ogden Payne  ,     CONTRIBUTOR I write for, and about, the up-and-coming musician.     SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 11: The Weeknd performs during his 'Starboy World Tour' at Golden 1 Center on October 11, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images) The Weeknd silently graced streaming sites with his latest album  My Dear Melancholy. Outside of music, he appears to be a man of few words whose identity seems to be as somber his latest album title. His career, however, is much more colorful. His accolades include a collection of Grammy Awards and a spot on the cover of FORBES, amounting to the perfect balance between art and business. But peeling back the layers to understand how exactly the Toronto native became such a worldwide phenomenon is a thought as alluring as the singer’s persona. He Embraced Humble Beginnings “Can’t nobody stop us, used to be ...
Post a Comment
Read more »��

Calabar prison inmate who delivered twins last week is dead

Calabar prison inmate who delivered twins last week is dead dailypost.ng The inmate of the Calabar Prison that delivered twins at the General Hospital Calabar on April 17 has died at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital due to postnatal complications. The Prison authority disclosed this in a statement by ASP Effanga Etim, Public Relations Officer of the State Prison Command on Wednesday in Calabar. He said that the mother of the twins died two days after delivery. “The Nigerian Prisons Service, Cross River command, is pained over the loss of the said inmate after a combined effort by the prison authority, the Cross River Government and medical personnel in the General Hospital, Calabar.” He said. Etim said that with the intervention of the Cross River Commissioner for Health and the Prison authorities to provide the funds needed for the Caesarean Section, the said inmate was delivered of twins: a boy and a girl. “However, due to complications arising from the...
Post a Comment
Read more »��

Drinking Water Crisis in Rural Towns

Drinking water is essential for life, but many rural towns in the U.S. are struggling to provide safe and reliable water to their residents. For decades, these towns have neglected their drinking water systems, resulting in aging infrastructure, water quality violations, and financial challenges. In this blog post, we will explore some of the causes and consequences of this crisis, and what can be done to address it. Causes of the Crisis One of the main causes of the crisis is the shrinking population of many rural towns. As people move to urban areas or other states, the tax base and the customer base of the water systems decline. This means less revenue to cover the costs of operation, maintenance, and improvement of the water systems. According to a report by the American Bar Association³, in 2015, 9 percent of all water systems had a documented violation of water quality standards, exposing 21 million people to unhealthy drinking water. These violations were more likely to occur in...
Post a Comment
Read more »��