Where did the term 420 come from?
4/20 origins The origins of the term "420" date back to the 1970s. A group of five high school teenagers in California used to meet at 4:20 p.m. each week in search of a cannabis plant that was supposedly left behind in a forest by a U.S. Coast Guard member who could no longer tend to the crop.
What does 420 actually stand for?
As Hager explained, a group of Californian teenagers ritualistically smoked marijuana every day at 4:20 pm. The ritual spread, and soon 420 became code for smoking marijuana. Eventually 420 was converted into 4/20 for calendar purposes, and the day of celebration was born.
Is 420 a police code?
Some claim the number is drawn from the California criminal codes used to punish the use or distribution of marijuana. The state's 420 code actually applies to obstructing entry on public land. But the rumor sounds a lot like … Neither the LAPD nor NYPD even have a code 420.
What is so special about 420?
They met at that time every day near a statue of Louis Pasteur, the scientist who pioneered pasteurization. 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.