Why 420 is pothead holiday — New Jersey’s theories

Friday is 4/20. Yes. 420. You know, the thing that seems so important to stoners. Marijuana aficionados cling to 420 the way Catholics do to Ash Wednesday or the way Pastafarians do to...uh...Prince Spaghetti Day? Anyway, the thing is it long ago became a holiday of sorts to people who smoke weed. In fact daily smokers hold a special place in their heart for 4:20pm, a time when either they joke about sparking one up or actually do.

But why? No one can ever agree. So we brought the question to our listeners on Thursday's show and here are their theories.

Both Vinny and Brad called to say 420 is the police dispatch code for having someone's vehicle pulled over with marijuana being found. Matt added to that saying it was the California penal code for the charge of smoking pot in public. Snopes says this isn't true.

Andy offered up that it is somehow tied to Hitler's birthday. April 20th is indeed Hitler's birthday, but what's the explanation for a tie-in to marijuana?

Mary Ellen says it's because 4/20 is Bob Marley's birthday. Except it's not. That's February 6th.

Dave had my favorite theory. He said back in the day an ounce cost $20, and a quick way to measure that you were indeed getting about an ounce was to hold your fingers together horizontally up to the bag and if the marijuana came up to your fourth finger that should be about an ounce. So if they had the 4 fingers, you had the 20 bucks, you had a deal. 420.

Brian called in with the info that Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia's birth certificate lists 4:20 as the time of his death. Yet he died in the mid 90's years after High Times was already referring to the 420 culture. Plus Maria called to say Garcia actually died at 4:23.

Heather says she thinks it's the time of the English high tea tradition because her and her pothead friends would always call the 4:20 spark up time "tea time."

Frank says it refers to an old California Senate bill #420 regarding medical marijuana.

Billy claims way back in the day there was a public parade in NYC every year on 4/20 that called for the legalization of marijuana. He said High Times sponsored. But if that's true...

...then why does Bob's story seem to check out and is backed up by High Times magazine itself? That in 1971 a group of teens in San Rafael California would meet after school at a statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20pm to light up. This story is also tied to one about these same teens searching in vain for a secret pot farm. It's said to have made its way slowly into marijuana culture from there but if true even that path seems shrouded in mystery.

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