It's not a police code. It's not the number of compounds in the plant. The real story of 420 starts with five teenagers, a hand-drawn treasure map, and a statue of a French scientist.
Meet the Waldos: San Rafael, California, 1971
In the fall of 1971, five students at San Rafael High School in Marin County, California (Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz and Mark Gravich) had a favorite hangout: a wall outside the school. Because of that wall, they called themselves the Waldos.
One day the group got hold of a hand-drawn treasure map. The story goes that a member of the U.S. Coast Guard had been growing a patch of plants on the Point Reyes Peninsula and could no longer look after it, so he drew a map and passed it along. The map made its way to the Waldos, and they decided to go find the "treasure."
"4:20 Louis"
Once classes and practice were done for the day, the crew picked a meeting time and place: 4:20 p.m. at the statue of Louis Pasteur on campus. The reminder in the hallway was simple: "4:20 Louis." They'd pile into a '66 Chevy Impala and head out to search.
They never found the patch. Not once. But the phrase stuck. "Louis" got dropped, and "420" became their private code word, something they could say in front of parents and teachers without anyone catching on.
How a Private Joke Went Worldwide
Here's where the Grateful Dead come in. Dave Reddix's older brother was connected to a Dead side project, and Mark Gravich's father handled real estate for the band. The Waldos spent time around the Dead's world, and the Deadhead touring scene carried "420" from Marin County to parking lots across the country.
The big leap came on December 28, 1990, at a Grateful Dead show at the Oakland Coliseum. Deadheads handed out flyers inviting people to meet up on April 20 (4/20) at 4:20 p.m. A journalist named Steve Bloom brought one of those flyers back to High Times in New York, and the magazine printed it in May 1991. From there, 4/20 turned into the date the whole world knows today.
The Waldos still have their receipts: postmarked letters using "420," an old school newspaper clipping and a tie-dyed 420 flag. When the Oxford English Dictionary added the term in 2017, it cited their evidence.
3 Myths That Aren't True
- "420 is a police radio code." Nope. That's actually what the 1990 flyer claimed, but there's no such police code. California Penal Code 420 is about obstructing entry on public land.
- "There are 420 compounds in the plant." The real number is well over 500, and it has nothing to do with the name.
- "It comes from a Bob Dylan song." Multiply 12 × 35 and you get 420, which is a fun coincidence. There's no documented link to how the term started.
Celebrate 4:20 Without the Smell
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Keep Reading
- From Dryer Sheets to Smoke Trap: The Evolution of Stoner Stealth Tactics
- What Is a Sploof & How Does Smoke Trap Compare?
- The Science Behind Sploofs: How They Work
No Smoke | No Smell | No Worry. Shop Smoke Trap
Sources: 420waldos.com, Wikipedia, The Cannigma, San Francisco Chronicle. Please enjoy responsibly and follow your local laws. Must be 21+.