Most people know that April, 20th or 4/20 is considered the “high” holiday of the cannabis world. Even if you’ve celebrated it, you may not know the origin of where this sacred date began. Over the years, there have been many rumors about what these numbers might mean. But there is one story that is more credible than the rest.
In Northern California in the 1970’s, a group of high school students from San Rafael High School became known as “The Waldos.” This is reportedly because they liked to hang out leaning against a wall. The Waldos came across a map that supposedly would lead them to an abandoned crop of cannabis. Whether or not they found this mystical crop of free weed is up for debate, but what we do know is that they met out front of their school every day at 4:20pm to have fun and spark up. They began to say “420” to each other as code for marijuana and were able to keep what they were doing under the radar with all of the adults.
There are also said to be ties to this group of kids and the Grateful Dead. The story goes that one of the kids became a roadie for the Dead and brought the phrase into popularity with the band and it’s followers. According to Time.com, “On Dec. 28, 1990, a group of Deadheads in Oakland handed out flyers that invited people to smoke “420” on April 20 at 4:20 p.m. One ended up with Steve Bloom, a former reporter for High Times magazine, an authority on cannabis culture.” And the rest is history.
However it started, 4/20 is an excuse to honor this wonderful plant and all of it’s amazing benefits. Here in NJ and in NY, we have much to celebrate this year surrounding cannabis. What are you going to do for 4/20 this year?
Leave a comment