Why Is 4/20 Anyway a “high” Holiday?
If you’re high right now, here’s a question that could cause your brain to short out: Why exactly do we associate a pot with 4/20? Is it the birthday of some mythological cannabis deity? Does it have something to do with the end of the semester for college students? Or are its founders so stoned we will never know?
There is currently one prevailing theory about its origins, but you should know in advance, it is based on private messages (however with some pretty compelling facts).
Valdos
The most common belief associated with the 4/20 legend is that it existed as a police code; in particular, “420” was used as a term for “cannabis smoking” among police officers in San Rafael, California. “This tale is actually partly true,” writes HuffPost .
At the time there was no 420 code, a group of high school students (nicknamed “Waldos”) in San Rafael are credited with being the first to use the term, still in 1971 HuffPost polled several of the original Waldos in their article on how 4/20 came to be:
The Valdos story goes like this: One day in the fall of 1971, harvest time, the Valdos received word from Coast Guard Officer Gary Newman, who could no longer tend his marijuana patch near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard. station. Holding a treasure map in their hands, the Valdians decided to pluck some of the free buds.
Waldo, who were all athletes, agreed to meet at the statue of Louis Pasteur outside the school at 4:20 pm after training to begin the hunt.
“We reminded each other in the hallways that we were to meet at 4:20. It originally started at 4:20 Louis, and we ended up ditching Louis, says the 57-year-old Capper.
As evidence, Valdos offers a clipping from a school newspaper and several postmarked letters, many of which contain 4/20 references – and while it’s easy to argue that this doesn’t mean they personally coined the term, there is no recorded use of the term. 4/20 until 1971. Its possible mainstream spread and why you and I use it now can be attributed to the Deadhead underground scene.
The Grateful Dead are involved (of course)
In the 1970s, The Grateful Dead moved to the hills of Marin County, near San Rafael, and some of the Valdos were well connected with the group: one Waldo’s father ran their real estate, and the other Waldo worked as a tour operator for the company. group . While we will probably never know how the group themselves came up with the term, it is speculated that Valdos may have used it in conversations.
“There was a place called Winterland and we always ran backstage or on stage, and of course we used those phrases,” said Steve Capper, one of the Waldos, to Huffington Pos t. “When somebody passes a joint or something like that,” Hey 420. ” So it began to spread throughout the community. “
The term continued to be popularized throughout the 70s and 80s among the Deadhead bands. By the 90s, the High Times had started using 4/20 and published a Grateful Dead leaflet citing the cannabis analogy, which helped make this number a generally accepted marijuana-related term. And in the end, Valdos stepped forward to claim their rightful place in stoner history alongside the High Times .
So we have a very possible Big Bang theory for 4/20. And while there are other existing theories (hotly contested by the Valdos), this one certainly has a pretty compelling backstory. Sadly, the Waldos don’t get any leftovers for creating the term, but we can all smoke a joint today in their honor.
This article was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated on April 20, 2021 to reflect the current Lifehacker style.