Follow
April 20 was chosen as the Weed Day due to ‘The Waldos.’
STATES CHRONICLE – On April 20, people celebrate Weed Day. But does anyone know why? Apparently, April 20 or 4/20 was chosen by marijuana smokers as the Weed Day because it corresponds with weed’s numerical code. Now, you may be wondering how this number reached to represent marijuana. Some people argue that the number 420 comes from the criminal codes of California which were used to punish the distribution and use of marijuana.
Marijuana smokers celebrate Weed Day on April 20
But if you were to read the 420 code, you would only find the code which obstructs entry on public territory. This has nothing to do with marijuana. However, there is another legend which says that the number comes from the police radio code whenever police officers detect people using or distributing marijuana. But, again, neither NYPD nor LAPD uses code 420. Only the San Francisco Police has this code, but it is used to signal juvenile disturbance.
These are the only speculation in a struggle to find the true meaning of this number, revealing whether it was a used randomly to celebrate the Weed Day or it actually hides a certain sense. Some other people believe that the number comes from Bob Dylan’s song called “Rainy Day Women #12 &35” where the lyrics ‘Everybody must get stoned’ draws everyone’s attention. Rumor has it that marijuana users formed this code by saying that if you multiply 12 by 35, you obtain 420.
The number 420 is a code which was used by ‘The Waldos’
Nevertheless, this might have gone too far since Dylan himself never confirmed such rumors. Others believe in the legend of Waldos. Based on the information provided by Chris Conrad, a curator of the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum in Oakland, California, 420 was high school students’ secret code since the 1970s. A group of students at San Rafael High School in Marin County, California who were known as ‘the Waldos’ had usually planned a meeting at 4:20 p.m. to smoke weed.
That time of the day seemed ideal for them since they were out of school and their parents were still at work. Thus, they benefited from some unsupervised spare time. Every day, at 4:20 p.m. they would meet at Louis Pasteur’s statue. The 420 code was used by these students to talk about weed in front of their parents or unsuspecting friends.
From there, 420 spread across California and then in the whole world, becoming very popular throughout pop culture.
Image courtesy of: flickr
