4/20 is Marijuana Day! Who would have thought ten years ago that in April 2020 the government would require most of us to "social distance" at home and only essential businesses would be open. It is mind blowing how far the legalization movement has come that some states would consider marijuana dispensaries essential businesses! As long as the federal government considers marijuana a Schedule 1 Drug, it will be up to individual states to determine the legality of marijuana. Unfortunately even on 4/20 Texas still considers possession of any amount of marijuana illegal.
Where and When Did 420 Start?
There are different version of the beginning of 420, but one of the most popular is that a group of friends in California called the Waldos would use 420 as a reference to smoking weed. The story goes that the Waldos would meet at 4:20 after school to toke up and search for a mystery crop of marijuana. 420 has become so popular that a main stream newspaper USA Today wrote an article about the origins of 420. The Waldos have created a website documenting their first use of the term 420.
The term 420 seems to have disappeared during the mid 1970s until around 1990. High Times published a timeline of the use of 420 that can be found here. In 1990 a mysterious flyer was circulating promoting 420 at Grateful Dead shows.
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