420

420 (aka 4:20, 4/20) is a cannabis culture idiom for ‘time to meet up and smoke weed.’  “420” started as a secret code in the prohibition-era 1970s in Northern California, but spread throughout the world in the subsequent decades. Today, 420 is a well-known signifier of marijuana culture, a time to light up each day (4:20 p.m.), and a major cannabis holiday of the year, April 20.

Wondering why we celebrate 420? Although several theories have emerged over the years, most people trace the holiday’s origins to the California town of San Rafael.

In 1971, a group of five high school athletes caught word of a secret cannabis grow in the woods near their school. They gathered at 4:20 pm daily to search for the mythical grow. Lamentably, they never found it, but 4:20 eventually morphed into a catch-all term for weed, and a code that it was time to smoke.