420 Enthusiasts To Honor Cannabis On High Holiday

April 20 is an infamous date. Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 on this date. The tragic 1999 Columbine High School massacre occurred on April 20 as well. April 20, better known as 420, also is a day of celebration for marijuana enthusiasts.

There are many myths behind the origins of 420. A popular myth is that 420 came about because the police code for marijuana possession was 420.

OU student Ben, who goes by his middle name, believes 420 comes from the approximately 420 natural chemicals found in the cannabis plant. He doesn’t know exactly when the term 420 came into use, but his parents didn’t know about the significance of this number when they were in college, he said.

420 originated in the early 1970s by a group of students, known as “the Waldos” at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, Calif., said Steve Bloom, editor at large of High Times magazine. The Waldos coined the term because they would get together after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana, and they could openly talk about 420 without anyone knowing what it meant.