#20 past 4 means code#

Organizers for the 2014 Denver rally - during the first year marijuana sales were legal in the state - put out a statement comparing the battle for legal marijuana to “the time when Jews fled from slavery in Egypt,” a moment commemorated in Passover celebrations. In recent years, marijuana legalization activists have tried to bring a more formal aspect to the celebration, framing it as a moment to push their political agenda. “Marijuana was the way you said you weren’t a suit,” Keith Humphreys, a drug policy expert at Stanford University, previously told me. In the 1970s, 4/20 was part of a smaller counterculture movement that embraced marijuana as a symbol to protest against broader systemic problems in the US, like overseas wars and the power of corporations in America. Others see the day as a moment to push for legalization, or celebrate legalization now that more states have adopted it and it has popular opinion behind it. Some people just want to get high and have fun. What 4/20 stands for varies from person to person.

Whatever its origins, 4/20 has become a massive holiday for cannabis aficionados. Since the story is from 1939, it’s perhaps the earliest written link between marijuana and 420. The story describes “curious mirage-plants” that seemed fairly similar to marijuana and appeared to get the narrator high at, according to his watch, around 4:20. But that’s not quite true either, with nearly 500 such components in marijuana.Ī lesser-known possibility comes from the 1939 short story “In the Walls of Eryx” by H.P. Marc Piscotty/Getty ImagesĪnother theory is that there are 420 active chemicals in marijuana, hence an obvious connection between the drug and the number.

#20 past 4 means code#

One common belief is that 420 was the California police or penal code for marijuana, but there’s no evidence to support those claims. (A group of Californians published documents giving this theory legitimacy, but it’s unclear if their claims are valid.) Eventually 420 was converted into 4/20 for calendar purposes, and the day of celebration was born. The ritual spread, and soon 420 became code for smoking marijuana. As Hager explained, a group of Californian teenagers ritualistically smoked marijuana every day at 4:20 pm. Steven Hager, a former editor of the marijuana-focused news outlet High Times, told the New York Times that the holiday came out of a ritual started by a group of high school students in the 1970s. Why April 20? There are a few possible explanations for why marijuana enthusiasts’ day of celebration landed on this day, but the real origin remains a bit of a mystery. What is 4/20? And why is it on April 20?Ĥ/20 is, in short, a holiday celebrating marijuana. Sign up to receive our newsletter each Friday.

Vox’s German Lopez is here to guide you through the Biden administration’s burst of policymaking. And that tells us a lot about how cannabis is changing in America as marijuana is legalized. This puts 4/20’s current iteration in sharp contrast to the holiday once embraced by a counterculture movement largely made up of hippies and others who decried greed, corporate influences, and all things mainstream. As a result, marijuana businesses are looking to leverage the holiday to find more ways to sell and market their products. Major rallies occur across the country, particularly in places like Colorado, California, and 15 other states where marijuana has been legalized.īut as support for marijuana legalization grows, the festivities are becoming more mainstream and commercialized. It’s 4/20, the day tens of thousands of Americans gather around the country to celebrate a drug that remains illegal in the US: marijuana.Īpril 20 (or 4/20) is cherished by pot smokers around the world as a reason to toke up with friends and massive crowds each year. Maryland will become the 22nd state to legalize in July 2023. Since then, the total number of states in the US that have legalized recreational marijuana has risen to 21 (plus Washington, DC). Editor’s note, April 20, 2023: This story was first published on April 19, 2019, and last updated on April 21, 2021.