{"id":879,"date":"2016-04-18T19:56:44","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T02:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/?p=879"},"modified":"2017-03-20T10:20:22","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T17:20:22","slug":"history-significance-420","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/history-significance-420\/","title":{"rendered":"The History and Significance of 420"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1971, five friends in San Rafael, Calif., gathered for weeks after school to search for a patch of cannabis supposedly growing somewhere near the Coast Guard station on Point Reyes Peninsula.<\/p>\n

Each search started with everyone meeting at the Louis Pasteur statue on the campus of San Raphael High School. They all were athletes, so they set a time to set out that was after everyone\u2019s practices.<\/p>\n

That time was 4:20 p.m.<\/p>\n

During the day, they\u2019d remind each other of the meeting time by, at first, saying \u201c420-Louis.\u201d Later they dropped the Louis and just went with 420.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d meet at 4:20 and get in my old \u201966 Chevy Impala,\u201d one of the group told the Huffington Post<\/a>, many years later. \u201cWe did it week after week. We never actually found the patch.\u201d<\/p>\n

While they failed in their mission, they had established a code word that they kept using instead of the usual terms for marijuana. They simply said \u201c420.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also had established the groundwork for something even bigger: a major counterculture holiday across the country, celebrated every year on April 20.<\/p>\n

420: From Code Word to Holiday<\/h2>\n

How did a code word among friends in California<\/a> become universally used across the country? Not surprisingly, it involves both the Grateful Dead and High Times magazine.<\/p>\n

According to the story as told by the original group, one of them ended up managing a band associated with the Grateful Dead, who had moved into Marin County, where San Rafael is located. The Dead and their fans, are, to put it mildly, noted cannabis advocates.<\/p>\n

The term began to circulate among those in that scene in Marin County. Eventually, a reporter for High Times heard the term while walking through a group of Dead fans outside a show. He wrote about it for the magazine, one of the most-read publications in the cannabis community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce it appeared in High Times\u2026the expression spread farther and faster than ever,\u201d former High Times editor Steven Hager, a cannabis activist and book author, said on the magazine\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, like a lot of trends in the United States, the term swept from the West Coast across the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

How widespread is the use of the term? When California legalized medicinal marijuana in 2003, the bill was entitled SB420. And next time you watch the movie \u201cPulp Fiction,\u201d check out the time on a couple of the clocks in the pawn shop. Coincidence? Maybe, but probably not.<\/p>\n

What 420 Does Not Refer To<\/h3>\n

Crazy theories about the origin of 420 have sprung up like, well, weeds over the decades. Here are a few of them, according to L.A. Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n