Ever wondered what “420” actually means? You hear it pop up in movies, music, and online, but what’s the real story behind this mysterious number? Well, let’s break it down!
The most accepted origin story takes us back to 1971, in San Rafael, California. A group of five high school friends, who called themselves “the Waldos,” discovered a hand-drawn map to a rumored, abandoned cannabis patch.
They planned to meet after school at exactly 4:20 PM, by a specific statue on their campus, to start their search. Their secret code for this meeting? “4:20 Louis.”
Over time, “4:20” became their shorthand for anything related to cannabis. And how did it spread? One of the Waldos had connections to the legendary band The Grateful Dead, and the term caught on with their fan base, the Deadheads!
By the 1990s, thanks in part to High Times magazine, “420” exploded into global pop culture. It became a universal symbol for cannabis consumption, and April 20th – or 4/20 – transformed into an unofficial international holiday celebrating cannabis culture, and often, advocating for its legalization.
So, “420” isn’t a police code, or a random number. It’s a secret handshake, a time, a date, and a global movement, all stemming from a simple, clandestine meeting of high school friends over 50 years ago!