Your bag is empty.
The date April 20 is like a stoner version of Christmas. The time 4:20, a.m. or p.m., reminds us of our last hit, how much we have stashed and the many who indulged before us and fought for our right to do so. Individuals often tack it on their social media usernames to indicate they’re somehow down with the greens. And now that legalization is spreading throughout the United States, the cannabis industry sees the holiday as an opportunity to boost business with sponsored events and retail specials.
All in all, the sequence of digits is synonymous with cannabis culture—but why? Why is 420 the holiest of numbers for cannabis lovers?
Maybe the most popular rumor is that 420 is the California police or penal code for the drug, but that claim lacks evidence. Others hypothesize that cannabis contains exactly 420 chemical entities, though experts confirm that the composition of the plants we consume is far too complex and varied to afford a distinct number.
Because of weed’s naughty reputation and its association with the counterculture, much of its history has been recounted off the record. Still, the most credible 420 origin tale comes from an article published in High Times magazine in 1998. The writer, Steven Hager, points to a cold e-mail he received from a San Francisco man named Steve who claimed to be part of a group called the Waldos. Within the e-mail, “Steve Waldo” reports that he and four friends originated the term while attending San Rafael High School in Marin County, California in 1971.
A friend had given Steve a makeshift map that led to a pot patch the friend’s sibling had planted. The Waldos would reportedly meet at exactly 4:20 p.m. by a statue of chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur on the high school’s campus. From there, they would jump into Steve’s 1966 Chevy Impala and drive to Point Reyes, aiming to harvest the patch and smoke.
They never found the patch, but they had a stash—and smoked it—nonetheless.
“We reminded each other about the meeting during the day by saluting each other in the halls and saying ‘420 Louie,’” Steve told Hager. He also recalled discovering that ‘420’ worked at home with parents.
Unfortunately, 420 is no longer a secret to most parents—or most anyone who lives among cannabis lovers—but Steve Waldo and Hager’s work does provide something for us all: an intriguing topic of conversation for our next (virtual, perhaps?) smoke-out.