Everyone is hungry, with bloodshot eyes and have a look of disconnect. Don’t worry it’s not Z-day yet, it’s April 20th, every pot smokers holiday. You have probably heard the term 420 before can figure out it has something to do with illegal drug use. But do you know why?

Here is a little history: ‘420’ began in 1971 as a bit of slang casually used by a group of high school kids, called the Waldos, at San Rafael High School in California. ‘420’ (always pronounced “four-twenty,” never “four hundred and twenty”) A reminder for the time they planned to meet to light up, 4:20 p.m. near a certain statue.

But most people don’t know the story and instead choose to believe other more enticing false origins. Here are a few examples:

420 is the penal code section for marijuana use in California.

Nope. Section 420 of the California penal code refers to obstructing entry on public land. The penal codes of other states list different entries for 420, but none of them matches anything having to do with marijuana.

However, on 1 January 2004 the Governor of California signed that state’s Senate Bill 420 which regulates marijuana used for medical purposes. This bill comes years after the term ‘420’ was associated with marijuana and indeed its number likely was chosen because of the existing pop culture connection. This is the tail wagging the dog, not the other way around.

It’s the Los Angeles or New York police radio code for marijuana smoking in progress.

It’s not the ‘Police Radio Codes’ for anything, let alone that.

It’s the number of chemical compounds in marijuana.

The number of chemical compounds in marijuana is 315, according to the folks at High Times magazine.

April 20 is the date that Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin died.

Though these performers were strongly identified with drug use during their brief lifetimes and the emerging drug culture after their demises, none of them kicked the bucket on April 20. Morrison died on July 3, Hendrix on September 18, and Joplin on October 4.

The 20th of April is the best time to plant marijuana.

There’s no one “best time”; that answer would change from one part of the country to another, or even one country to another.

Albert Hofmann took the first deliberate LSD trip at 4:20 on 19 April 1943.

This was indeed the case — his lab notes back this up. But this wasn’t the source of “420,” just an oddball coincidence. (For the pedants out there, Hofmann’s first LSD trip, which was accidental, took place on 16 April 1943.)

It’s the code you send to your drug dealer’s pager.

Yeah, right. All drug dealers recognize a ‘420’ page as “Please be waiting on the corner with my baggie of wildwood weed.”

When the Grateful Dead toured, they always stayed in Room 420.

Untrue, says Grateful Dead Productions spokesman Dennis McNally. But they do have ties to the wide spread of the term.

Source:  Snopes.com