# 420 420 is a slang code for cannabis and cannabis culture, coined in 1971 by five San Rafael High School students who called themselves the Waldos. The number refers to 4:20 p.m., the time the group met at a Louis Pasteur statue to smoke, and April 20 later became the unofficial worldwide holiday for weed smokers. ## Overview 420 is a numerical code cannabis smokers use to signal weed. Depending on context, it can point to 4:20 p.m. as the daily smoke time, the date April 20 as a stoner holiday, or a random username or license plate flagged to hint at cannabis friendliness[1]. The term is always pronounced "four-twenty," never "four hundred and twenty," and works as a semi-private password that smokers tend to spot everywhere from film clocks to freeway mile markers[1]. The code carries a specific origin story tied to five California teenagers in the early 1970s, though the number was misattributed for decades to police radio codes, chemical counts in weed, and even Bob Dylan lyrics[2]. High Times editor Steven Hager credited the Waldos of San Rafael High School as the coiners in 1998, and later news coverage ran with that account[5]. By 2000, when the San Francisco Chronicle site SFGate ran a feature on the term, 420 was firmly locked in as the standard shorthand for cannabis and its unofficial April holiday[4]. ## How It Spread The 420 code stayed underground through the 1970s and 1980s, passed stoner to stoner until it caught a break through the Grateful Dead scene[2]. Members of the band lived in San Rafael and knew people who knew the Waldos, so the term slipped into Deadhead vocabulary and traveled with the touring parking lot community[1]. In December 1990, then High Times reporter Steven Bloom was walking through the Deadhead parking lot before a Grateful Dead show in Oakland when someone handed him a yellow flyer that read "We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais"[2]. The flyer included a backstory for the term and promoted a smoke session for April 20, 1991[2]. High Times printed the flyer, kept referencing 420 in later issues, and formally credited the Waldos as the inventors in 1998[5]. On April 20, 1995, the Cannabis Action Network staged the first annual 4/20 Ball at Maritime Hall in San Francisco, running from 4:20 p.m. to 4:20 a.m.[5]. By 2000, when SFGate ran "Stoner Chic Traces Origin To San Rafael," thousands of people were gathering on college campuses, in city parks, and on mountaintops every April 20, including Ann Arbor's Hash Bash and Marin County smoke-outs on Mount Tamalpais[4]. In April 2005, Something Awful forum member Kirtaner registered 420chan.org, which grew into an imageboard focused on cannabis culture and pro wrestling[5]. ## How to Use People typically use 420 three ways: as a time (meeting at 4:20 p.m. to smoke), as a date (April 20 as a smoking holiday), and as a general tag that something is weed related, whether that's a username, license plate, or price[1]. The number often shows up as an inside joke in film and TV set dressing, with fans pointing to the clocks in Pulp Fiction reading 4:20 and the freeway 420 mile marker signs that get stolen so often that California's Department of Transportation replaced one with a 419.99 sign to discourage theft[1]. Saying "it's 4:20 somewhere" is a common convention among smokers to justify lighting up at any hour. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 420? 420 is a slang code for cannabis and cannabis culture, pointing to the time 4:20 p.m., the date April 20, or just a general weed-friendly signal[1]. ### Where did 420 come from? San Rafael High School in northern California in autumn 1971, coined by five students who called themselves the Waldos[1]. ### What does 420 mean? It originally meant the time (4:20 p.m.) the Waldos met at a statue of Louis Pasteur on their school campus to smoke weed[5]. ### How do you use 420? Use it as a time to light up (4:20 p.m.), a date to celebrate (April 20), or as a general shorthand that something is cannabis related[1]. ### Is 420 still popular? Yes, organized April 20 gatherings had been held in more than 1,000 cities across 88 countries or subnational areas since 1999[6]. ### Who are the Waldos? A group of five San Rafael High School students in 1971 who invented the term, including filmmaker Dave Reddix (Waldo Dave) and Steve Capper (Waldo Steve)[3]. ### What was the original meaning of 420? A meeting time (4:20 p.m.) the Waldos picked for a treasure hunt aimed at finding a marijuana crop at Point Reyes based on a hand-drawn map[1]. ### How did 420 spread from a small group to the world? Through the Grateful Dead scene, then through a 1990 yellow flyer handed to High Times reporter Steven Bloom at a Dead show in Oakland[2]. ### What happened on April 20, 1995? The Cannabis Action Network held the first annual 4/20 Ball at Maritime Hall in San Francisco, running from 4:20 p.m. to 4:20 a.m.[5]. ### Are the origin myths about 420 true? No, common myths like 420 being a police radio code, the number of active chemicals in weed, or a coded reference to Hitler's birthday have all been debunked[2]. ### When did High Times officially credit the Waldos? In 1998, after editor Steven Hager researched the origin and recognized the group as the inventors[5]. ### What is 420chan? An English-language imageboard registered on April 20, 2005 by Something Awful user Kirtaner, focused on cannabis culture and professional wrestling[5]. ## References 1. [https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27039192]() 2. [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/420-meaning-the-true-stor_n_543854]() 3. [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/420/]() 4. [https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Stoner-Chic-Traces-Origin-To-San-Rafael-2763464.php]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/420]() 6. [https://cannabis.shoutwiki.com/wiki/420_event_lists]() 7. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=420]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/420 Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library