Fun Facts: 4/20 and Weed Day

143 is for love, 13 is for bad luck, 888 is for Jesus, 666 is for Satan. We do love number symbolism, aren’t we? So, what does 420 stand for? Moreover, how do these three numbers connect with weed? Please read forward to find answers!

420 originally meant “4:20” in the afternoon. The connection between “420” and the weed subculture dates back to the 1970s. In 1971, five high school students usually met at 4:20 p.m. at the Louis Pasteur statue in San Rafael, California to look for the abandoned weed, according to a treasure map made by a marijuana planter. The five students called themselves the “Waldos” because they often hung out near a wall outside the school. They named their plan “4:20 Louis”. After several failed attempts, they changed the code to “4:20”. The code word eventually became a term used by the Waldos to represent marijuana smoking.

Thanks to journalism (High Times) and pop culture (Grateful Dead), the relationship between Waldos and the “420”, as well as the custom of smoking marijuana at 4:20 p.m. and on April 20, is becoming well-known. April 20 is becoming an international counterculture holiday to celebrate and smoke marijuana and to advocate for the liberalization/legalization of marijuana.

As support for marijuana legalization grows, the celebration is becoming more mainstream and commercialized. Nowadays, April 20 become the largest shopping festival for cannabis products.