As many knows, April 20 or “420" is considered a sort of national holiday in cannabis culture. While there are many stories about the origins of the phrase, one of the most widely circulated stories involves five high school students.
In 1971, a group is known as the “Waldos,” including Steve Capper, Mark Gravitch, Dave Reddix, Larry Schwartz and Jeffrey Noel, would get together to smoke marijuana by the statue of chemist Louis Pasteur at San Rafael High School located in Marin, California. As the story goes, they would say "420" to each other at some point during the school day as code to meet for a smoke.
420 Intel says "Reddix's brother helped him get a job as a roadie for Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, and the term "420" caught on. The legend goes that on Dec. 28, 1990, Deadheads in Oakland handed out flyers inviting people to smoke "420" on April 20 at 4:20 p.m and one got in the hands of Steve Bloom, a former reporter for High Times. The publication published the flyer in 1991 and continued to reference the number; before long those digits became known globally for their association with marijuana. In 1998, the outlet recognized the "Waldos" as the "inventors" of 420."
