That's interesting. How was it determined that was the time? Was a committee of pot smokers formed and they determined it?
Actually, yes. Well, according to a concensus at alt.drugs.pot. Apparently, the term originated with a group of smokers at San Rafael High School in 1971 who routinely met in the park after school to smoke marijuana. As the group got bigger, a time was set (4:20PM) when everyone would be finished classes and had time to get to the park. After a while, people began to use the number 420 as a verb (let's go 420 in the parking lot). Many people say 420 is a police code for marijuana possession in California (it's not). I've also heard that 420 is the active chemical in MJ  . To be honest I don't remember exactly where I learned about the after-school 420 theory, but I do remember that it was a particularly learned and trusted individual. This version of the origin of 420 is the one generally accepted by the knowledgable folks at alt.drugs.pot.
In any case, the real origin of the association between 4:20 and marijuana is a mystery. I've never heard any conclusive evidence supporting any particular theory, but the "After-School" theory seems to have the most credibility.
Other popular theories (taken from USENET archives):
In Jamaica, a heavy pot smoker will 420 mg of THC per day
Sounds ridiculous to me. 420mg seems like a LOT.
there are 420 compounds in marijuana
This one just ain't true.
The most repeated explanation for 4:20s origin is that the San Rafael Police Department in Marin County, CA defined a 420 radio call as pot-smoking in progress. However, the department denies this and says there currently is no such code.
.......
Okay now, I found what I was looking for. There's some pretty interesting stuff in this article:
True story?: "According to Steven Hager, editor of High Times, the
term 420 originated at San Rafael High School, in 1971, among a group
of about a dozen pot-smoking wiseacres who called themselves the
Waldos. The term 420 was shorthand for the time of day the group would
meet, at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur, to smoke pot. ``Waldo
Steve,'' a member of the group who now owns a business in San
Francisco, says the Waldos would salute each other in the school
hallway and say ``420 Louis!'' The term was one of many invented by
the group, but it was the one that caught on. ``It was just a joke,
but it came to mean all kinds of things, like `Do you have any?' or
`Do I look stoned?' '' he said. ``Parents and teachers wouldn't know
what we were talking about.'' The term took root, and flourished, and
spread beyond San Rafael with the assistance of the Grateful Dead and
their dedicated cohort of pot-smoking fans. The Waldos decided to
assert their claim to the history of the term after decades of
watching it spread, mutate and be appropriated by commercial
interests. The Waldos contacted Hager, and presented him with evidence
of 420's history, primarily a collection of postmarked letters from
the early '70s with lots of mention of 420. They also started a Web
site, waldo420.com. ``We have proof, we were the first,'' Waldo Steve
said. ``I mean, it's not like we wrote a book or invented anything. We
just came up with a phrase. But it's kind of an honor that this
emanated from San Rafael.''" Maria Alicia Gaura for the San Francisco
Chronicle, 4/20/00 p. A19; and thanks to Noah Cole for the submission
Alternate explanations: There are a variety of other explanations, all
much more interesting than "police code", and many plausible. Some are
more likely uses of the 420/hemp connection rather than sources of it.
For instance, Bob Dylan's famous "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" is a
possible reference, or source -- 12x35=420. And Stephen Stills wrote
(and Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed) a song "4+20" (first
recorded 7/16/69, released on Deja Vu 3/11/70) about an 84-year-old
poverty-stricken man who started and finished with nothing. (Thanks to
Sherry Keel 12/6/98.) But 420 in poetry is older
than that - Greg Keller notes the old
nursery rhyme line, "four and twenty black birds baked in a pie".
"There are [purportedly] 420 various types of chemicals in marijuana
itself," said Alfred Hall. -- but in fact there are
315. Disruptive students are out of detention and safely (for smoking
purposes) away from school by 4:20. Tea time in Amsterdam is rumored
to be 4:20, but is actually 5:30 Gerhard den Hollander
. It was rumored to be "the time that you should
dose to be peaking when the Dead went on stage" Hart
). "Guy who lived in Jamaica said most people
worked till 4 then walked home then lit up. They would talk 420 like
our parents talked about after 5. Thats when partying began." and
"Hands on analog clock at 4:20 look like position of doobie dangling
from mouth" "Larry in Tuscan" ). In
Midnight's_Children, Salman Rushdie writes, "420 has been, since time
immemorial, the number associated with fraud, deception and trickery."
(). Albert Hofmann (not Abbie Hoffman)
supposedly first encountered LSD at 4:20 p.m. on 4/19/1943 (Bart
Coleman , citing Storming Heaven by Jay Stevens,
recommended by Mickey Hart in Planet Drum). Surrealist painter Miro
was born April 20, 1893. ( 5/31/98) And
emailed about "the Waldos. A group of teens
back in the 70's that lived in San Rafael, CA. 420 was the way they
talked about pot in front of teachers, non-smoking family members etc.
Also it was the time of day they could just go relax, and get baked."
Revelation 5:14 (in the King James Version) reads, "And the four
beasts said 'A-Men.' And the four and twenty elders fell down and
worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." (Travis Spurley
2/15/99) Alex Mack posted
(5/19/99) that at 4:20, the minute hand "looks like a doob hanging
from someone's mouth." Perhaps the heavy use of vt420 terminals in the
Berkeley area is to blame? (BTW, 420 in binary code is 110100100.) And
suggested (2/14/98) that this passage from
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie is telling:
Inevitably, a number of these children failed to survive.
Malnutrition, disease and the misfortunes of everyday life had
accounted for no less than four hundred and twenty of them by the time
I became conscious of their existence; although it is possible to
hypothesize that these deaths, too, had their purpose, since 420 has
been, since time immemorial, the number associated with fraud,
deception and trickery.
Comet's "best guess is that this refers to something in Indian
mythology or numerology, since the book is set in India and frequently
involves Indian history, culture, and religion. Given the high
interest in Eastern religion among the phish/dead community, this
seems a likely origin of 420's current significance." Could be that it
comes from hydroponics, the practice of cultivating plants in water
often used by indoor marijuana cultivators, since 4 is used for H on a
calculator (420/H20). (Nick Lowe 3/30/00) The number 80
(eight) is "quatre vingt" (pronounced "cah-truh vahn"), meaning "four
(times} twenty". Dan Nijjar 1/27/00 (No
connection yet between the number 80 and pot. An ounce is 120 grams.)
The titanic was supposed to arrive 4/20/1912. (Thanks to Robb
Barrett.(
420 now ubiquitous? Now there's a 420 Pale Ale. One of the
late-97/early-98 "Got Milk" ads featured a character eating cookies
without milk and then passing a sign that reads "Next Rest Area 420
miles" (as Ross ). Reportedly, all of the
clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20. Shirts with the
number 420 on the red-and-blue interstate highway shield (Interstate
420?) have show up on the sitcom Will and Grace (Paul Risenhoover
5/14/99) and in several videos. UPS' labelling
software has a "420 postal code" legend for next-day/2-day deliveries
(which is how Phish tickets are sent). (Jack Lebowitz
10/3/98) MTV's 1997 Viewer's Choice Award (for the
MTV Video Awards) was decided by calls to 1-800-420-4MTV. And by May
of 1998, the number was appearing in so many ads (eg Copenhagen
5/14/98 Rolling Stone p54, Corvette p55 5/98 Car & Driver) that its
presence is presumed to be intentional. Many songs are around 4
minutes 20 seconds long (since many songs fall between 2:30 and 5:30),
including for example Pink Floyd's "A Great Day for Freedom" (on The
Division Bell, 1994). "There have also been some 420 references on The
Simpsons. In the re-run episode aired on April 20th, 1999 at a special
time (probably in honor of those college students staying in the
holiday spirit ;-), Homer mentions to Flanders that Barney's birthday
is April 20th. Also, the jackpot sign in one part of the casino says
$420,000. There are a couple less concrete ones, but these two have to
be legit, especially since they decided to air THAT particular episode
on 4/20/99." (Submitted by Matt Meehan
4/21/99) And (as of Fall '99) the 60 free minutes that Working Assets
Long Distance offers, at the 7 cents per minute rate, is $4.20 free.
There's even a band named 420. In the first fifteen pages of Karel
Capek's novel War with the Newts, a man diving under wonder stayed
down for four minutes and twenty seconds. Grant Garstka
1/6/00 At the suggested retail price ($3.96) and
Michigan (6%) sales tax, a deck of Uno cards costs $4.20. Nic Boris
Phish-related Occurances: Whatever the origin, the number appears
frequently... For the summer 1997 tour, TicketMaster service charges
were $4.20. In the Fall 1997 Doniac Schvice Dry Goods section, a
limited edition Pollack poster printed on 100% hemp is order number
420P. The Great Went was 420 miles from Boston (former home of Phish).
"Gringo" noted (in an 11/12/98) post the
official logo includes 4 gills and 20 bubbles. As of 6/15/97,
including covers and originals, Phish had performed a total of 420
songs (thought its 486 by 4/24/98). (David Steinberg
). Lawnboy is 420megs of memory. Patrick Walker
Phish's The Vibration of Life underlies a
whirling loop with Seven Beats per second (which makes 420 beats per
minute.) Trey has used the altered line "woke up at 4:20" in "Makisupa
Policeman", which also often indirectly celebrates 420ing, e.g. by
mention of goo balls. One of the funniest shirts around takes light
jabs at both the 4:20 phenomenon and the rumored evolution (collapse?)
of the Phish.Net (especially rec.music.phish) from being Gamehendge to
Flamehendge, and beyond. The first day of the Great Went started at
4:20 (with Makisupa Policeman. (The second day started late, at 4:37.)
Noah Cole The first single from Slip Stitch
and Pass was played on WBCN 10/14/97 at 4:20 pm. An uproar at 12/31/96
can be heard on tape during the 2001, in response to an enormous
digital clock (which was counting down to midnight) reaching 11:55:40
and reading "-4:20". (Yoda ) Some mail order tickets
for the 1997 New Year's run were in section 420. And the first Mass
Pike toll leaving Oswego was $4.20. (Camille Heath
)
420 Shows: Phish performed on April 20 in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and
1994. The first day of the Great Went started at 4:20, although that
was called a soundcheck by Trey after three songs. The Jazzfest Harry
Hood 4-26-96 started at about 4:20 reported by Trevor
.
--------------------
Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it.
~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
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