What does 420 mean? The stoner code simply explained

You may have picked up the code 420 somewhere before. What it means is explained quite simply. In any case, the number combination does not stand for an error message on your PC.

Smoking: 420 – A popular code simply explained

420 – pronounced “four twenty” – is a code from the cannabis community.

• The code does not have a real meaning in the actual sense. It is rather to be seen as a universal umbrella term and is used worldwide in the stoner scene.

• Actually, 420 is used to celebrate and commemorate anything related to marijuana and the use of the drug.

• But the numerical code also represents being part of the cannabis culture. Whether someone is lighting a joint, baking marijuana cookies or growing the plants, it’s all 420.

• Of course, the code was also applied to a specific date: April 20 (American spelling is 4-20), is virtually the high festival of the stoner scene. On this day, cannabis-related events take place all over the world.

420 – where does the code come from?

The code is not a new invention, it originated in the USA in 1971.

• In 1971, a group of San Rafael High School students called the “Waldos” met regularly to smoke pot.

• When they did so, a specific time was set, at 4:20 pm. This ritual of daily cannabis use at a specific time shaped the code.

• Why the students met at that particular time is open to question. Probably wanted to relax with a joint after school and celebrated this as a ritual.

• The code quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. Crucial to this development was the hippie band Greatful Dead, which moved to San Rafael. Some “Waldos” had contact with band members, for example, they managed property of the group or managed a side project of Greatful Dead.

• Backstage and at rehearsals, the “Waldos” would say “Hey, 420” as usual when a joint was passed around.

• The members of Greatful Dead adopted the code and so it spread through the musician and stoner scene.

• An editor at High Times picked up the term and used it at major events like the Cannabis Cup. That’s how the code first conquered the United States of America and eventually the whole world.