Tali Catz
student
- April 20, 2009 • 10:16 pm PDT
- + responses
Origins of 420 - Huffington Post
-It's the number of active chemicals in marijuana.
-It's teatime in
Holland.
-It has something to do with Hitler's birthday.
- It's those
numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied.
- Its the police code for busting someone using weed
The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers
every April 20th, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the
folks who made it a phenomenon.
The code pops up in Craig's List postings when fellow smokers search for "420 friendly" roommates. All of the clocks in Pulp Fiction, for instance, are set to 4:20. In
2003, when the California legislature codified the medical marijuana
law voters had approved, the bill was named SB420.
The Real Story: a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos - by
virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school -
coined the term in 1971.
It goes like this: One day in the Fall of 1971 - harvest time - the
Waldos got word of a Coast Guard service member who could no longer
tend his plot of marijuana plants near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast
Guard station. A treasure map in hand, the Waldos decided to pluck some
of this free bud.
The Waldos were all athletes and agreed to meet at the statue of
Loius Pasteur outside the school at 4:20, after practice, to begin the
hunt. They would remind each other in the hallways that they were supposed to meet up at 4:20. Week after week, 4:20 was the code.
How did 420 spread from a circle of California stoners across the globe?
The Waldos started hanging out with the Grateful Dead.
-It's the number of active chemicals in marijuana.
-It's teatime in
Holland.
-It has something to do with Hitler's birthday.
- It's those
numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied.
- Its the police code for busting someone using weed
The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers
every April 20th, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the
folks who made it a phenomenon.
The code pops up in Craig's List postings when fellow smokers search for "420 friendly" roommates. All of the clocks in Pulp Fiction, for instance, are set to 4:20. In
2003, when the California legislature codified the medical marijuana
law voters had approved, the bill was named SB420.
The Real Story: a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos - by
virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school -
coined the term in 1971.
It goes like this: One day in the Fall of 1971 - harvest time - the
Waldos got word of a Coast Guard service member who could no longer
tend his plot of marijuana plants near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast
Guard station. A treasure map in hand, the Waldos decided to pluck some
of this free bud.
The Waldos were all athletes and agreed to meet at the statue of
Loius Pasteur outside the school at 4:20, after practice, to begin the
hunt. They would remind each other in the hallways that they were supposed to meet up at 4:20. Week after week, 4:20 was the code.
How did 420 spread from a circle of California stoners across the globe?
The Waldos started hanging out with the Grateful Dead.
