Brut America
  • 3 years ago
For weed smokers across the country, April 20 has become known as "420." But why 420?

A few theories have been puff puff passed around over the years ...
Transcript
00:00On April 20th, pot smokers across the U.S. will be lighting up a joint to celebrate their
00:09favorite holiday, 420.
00:13The number 420 has become a widely known code for cannabis or cannabis smoking.
00:26But the true origin of 420 has always been the source of debate, and a few theories
00:30have emerged over the years.
00:37Some believe 420 was a radio code police used for cannabis violations in New York City and
00:42Los Angeles.
00:43In reality, 420 was never a police code used for weed smoking in either of those cities.
00:53That would make sense as an origin story, except for the fact that cannabis has over
00:57500 chemical compounds.
00:59The most well-known compound is THC, the cannabinoid responsible for the high people get after
01:04consumption.
01:11Bob Dylan has a song called Rainy Day Women number 12 and 35.
01:15And because 12 times 35 equals 420, many have taken that to mean that the code number originated
01:23with Bob Dylan.
01:24The song's lyrics also reference weed smoking.
01:35This theory is easy to debunk because the best time periods to plant cannabis varies
01:39from country to country or even from city to city.
01:48According to his lab notes, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman, the father of LSD, or what's
01:53commonly known as acid, first consumed the drug at 4.20 p.m.
01:58And some believe that the time of this drug use could be related to 420, but that's just
02:02a coincidence.
02:03LSD actually has its own unofficial holiday on April 19th to commemorate Hoffman's first
02:08acid trip.
02:15The most credible backstory to the code 420 is that back in 1971, a group of high schoolers
02:20in California who called themselves the Waldos would meet up at 4.20 p.m. to smoke.
02:26And they used the code 420 as a way to remind each other of their after school plans without
02:31alerting those around them.
02:32We could say 420 is our secret code in front of our parents, cops, teachers, everybody.
02:38And nobody knew what it was and it was our little private joke.
02:42In interviews, the Waldos have said that they would meet at 4.20, smoke, and go searching
02:46for a crop of cannabis that they heard was left behind by a Coast Guard service member
02:50in a nearby town.
02:51They never did end up finding the hidden treasure, but the Waldos, who have now been friends
02:55for over 50 years, coined a phrase that was spread across their high school, their colleges,
03:00and eventually the whole country.