Happy 420 out there to all who celebrate! Some believe that 420 started from a multitude of different places. Some think that there used to be songs where the numbers added up to the almighty 420, indicating the artist smoked marijuana. Others believe that the number came to be and was spread by pure coincidence. The truth of the story is that it all started with a small group of teens looking to get high after school.
According to Time magazine, the origin of 420 started back in 1971. This was the year when students Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich chose to get together at 4:20 PM. Why this time specifically? The answer is because that is when extracurricular activities at school usually ended. The high schoolers would use the term “420” as code to get their friends to meet up at that time. When the time arose, they would meet up after their activities and get high. They continued to use the phrase for years to come.
One of those students, Reddix got a job as a roadie for the band the Grateful Dead the next summer. By 1990, the band was spreading flyers all around with the term 420 and weed written all over it. Time Magazine then printed the flyer in their magazine and the rest is history. Since then, 420 has been tightly associated with cannabis and the holy holiday of April 20th.
With the rise of 420, marijuana activists and people all around the United States have boosted cannabis to the number one widely used drug that is illegal under federal law. Roughly 48 million Americans claimed to have used it at least once in 2019.
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