The cannabis movement is a culture that draws crowds, and the 420 movement proves it. But what does 420 stand for, and where does it come from? Where is the movement headed, and what does this number mean for cannabis users? There are many unanswered questions that have come up over the years about why 420—pronounced “four twenty,” not “four hundred twenty”—has become an icon and a culture, and in today’s article we’ll try to shed some light on them.
Let’s start at the end. Before breaking down the history and the reasons behind 420, you should know that this movement has led to a “celebration,” or day of advocacy, of its own: April 20. But what actually happens today when this day comes around? The truth is that the answer, as with everything, varies. The events depend largely on the country you live in and how socially accepted the plant is there.
The current situation of the movement
Looking back through history, we see that by the turn of the century, 420 events on April 20 were already popular as a way to raise awareness against cannabis’s illegal status. So it’s understandable that this number has become one of the most significant banners in the fight for legalization, sharing its day with another major event: the Global Marijuana March.
But let’s get back to the number. There are many coincidences and references in our daily lives that bring 420 to mind. One example, according to the Huffington Post, is that: “In 2003, when the California legislature codified the medical marijuana law that voters had approved, the bill was called SB 420. ‘We think the person responsible was a staff member working for [lead Assembly sponsor Mark] Leno, but no one has ever admitted it,’ says Steph Sherer, director of Americans for Safe Access, which lobbied politically in favor of the bill. California legislative staff members have said the story behind the 420 name remains a mystery…”
420 and "Los Waldos".
Before continuing, let's go to the origins of this "motto". The story, which is now a symbol in the cannabis world, dates back to 1971, when a group of friends from San Rafael High School in Northern California came across a hand-drawn map that supposedly located a marijuana grow in Point Reyes, northwest of San Francisco.
The friends, who called themselves "the Waldos," met after school at 4:20 at a statue of Louis Pasteur (which became the abbreviation "420 Louis"), and set out in search of their treasure. They never found it.
During the time they spent searching for that crop, these friends began using the term “420,” which became an all-purpose linguistic tool used for anything related to cannabis.
Later, the term spread to another group, even larger than the Waldos: “the Deadheads,” fans of the band Grateful Dead, who adopted the cannabis slang and spread it. But the initial leap to the masses came when one of those fans handed a flyer referring to the number 420 to journalist Steve Bloom, who at the time worked for the American cannabis magazine High Times.
Over time, this same journalist has commented that the term originally created by the Waldos and adopted by the Deadheads has served as a kind of “semi-private code” that you tend to see everywhere: street numbers, prices, times and even in film culture.
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