Where Did "420" Come From?

We have all heard of the connection between the number 420 and the marijuana sub-culture. There are a staggering number of rumors that attempts to explain the origin of "420", but few are ever correct. Some explanations that have existed in the past include 420 being some sort of police code or the number of chemicals in marijuana. The truth is that there is no such police code in the United States that connects the number 420 to marijuana and the number of chemicals in marijuana is actually closer to 315.

The true origin of the word comes from a 1971 group of high school buddies in Marin County, CA. The group called themselves the Waldos because they would often hang out by a wall on campus. The group routinely agreed to meet for the sole purpose of smoking marijuana at 4:20 p.m. after school by a statue dedicated to scientist Louis Pasteur.

Members of the original group of Waldos have been able to provide evidence of their claim that they are the ones who invented the marijuana / 420 connection by providing written correspondences between group members making reference to 420, smoking pot, meeting after school, and getting high.

So there you have it. No Nazi conspiracies and no police jargon, just a bunch of sarcastic high school kids who needed a code word to describe smoking marijuana when in the company of their parents and teachers. The Waldos had become so accustomed to lighting up at 4:20 p.m. that they began to use the time of day to describe the activity they wanted to keep secret.

The original members of the Waldos who asserted being the creators of the 420 catch phrase are not legalization activists and they do not hold any political ambitions, they are just regular guys who take pride in having created an underground pop-culture phenomena.

Sources:

Grim, Ryan. What 420 Means: The True Story Behind Stoners' Favorite Number. The Huffington Post.

What is 420? Concept 420.

Hurst, Nathan. What is the Origin of 420 Pot Codes? The Seattle Times.

Guara, Maria Alicia. Stoner Chic Traces Origin to San Rafael / Snickering High Schoolers Brought '420' into Lexicon. The SF Gate.