420…a holiday for cannabis. Oh, what a day!
The codeword 420 is a common term us stoners use to indicate it’s time to light up. This does not mean we look at the clock and say… “Hmm it’s 420, it’s time to smoke.” It could be 11 in the morning with my roommate passing through the kitchen yelling 420, so we all know a blunt shall be sparked. The cannabis community also uses the phrase “420 friendly” to let others know it’s a cannabis smoking environment.
As the story goes, the 420 term was originated in 1971 by a group of people in San Rafael California. The group was said to have been treasure hunting for an old abandoned cannabis crop. This group apparently hung outside of school against the wall; they called themselves “the Waldos.” These explorers would meet after school at the Louis Pasteur statue at 4:20 as their meeting time. They started to refer to these meetings as “420 Louis.” They never did find the cannabis crop.
