What is 420? What does it mean and why does it represent cannabis culture?

Nearly 1,200 people have already declared they would be attending an annual gathering at 3pm BST in Hyde Park, London to mark 420.

Marijuana advocates from across the country will gather to push for the legalisation of the drug.

The event’s organiser Eric Shepperd told the London Free Press the gathering is about the normalisation of cannabis.

He said: “It’s not just dirty hippies that smoke marijuana.

“It’s older people, it’s businesspeople, it’s academics — all sorts of people use cannabis in a responsible and active way.”

He added: “People can just experience what people who use cannabis are like.” 

What is 420?

The term 420 symbolises several different things related to cannabis consumption.

Firstly it is a general slang term used to describe the act of smoking cannabis, especially around the time of 4.20am/pm.

It is also used to refer to April 20 in the American date format, and as such the day has unofficially become the day marking cannabis culture.

What are the origins of 420?

The origins of the number are unclear but urban legends claim it originates with group of Californian teenagers in the early 1970s, who called themselves the Waldos.

The group of teenagers were supposedly planing to find an abandoned marijuana crop based on a treasure map left by the grower.

Overtime whenever they would go out looking for the crop, they would meet at 4.20pm, with the number eventually evolving into a codeword of its own.

Some believe the Waldos met at the Statue of Louis Pasteur at San Rafael High School, California. 

One of the alleged teens, Waldo Steve, revealed the story to the Huffington Post.

He said: “We would remind each other in the hallways we were supposed to meet up at 4.20. It originally started out 4.20-Louis and we eventually dropped the Louis.

“We’d meet at 4.20 and get in my old ‘66 Chevy Impala and, of course, we’d smoke instantly and smoke all the way out to Pt. Reyes and smoke the entire time we were out there.

“We did it week after week. We never actually found the patch.”

The number has also become associated with the band The Grateful Dead, though guitarist Warren Haynes does not understand why.

He told the Huffington Post: “I don’t know the real origin. I know myths and rumors.”

“I’m really confused about the first time I heard it. It was like a police code for smoking in progress or something.”

Another common myth is that 420 is the penal code used by Californian Police when dealing with marijuana use, but it has been dispelled when it was revealed 420 was the code for “obstructing entry on public land”.

No other theory for the origin of 420 has come up that would place it before the Waldos and the catchphrase has quickly been absorbed into cannabis culture.

Steve Hager, editor of the High Times, said he incorporated the number into everything he was doing.

He said: “I started doing all these big events – the World Hemp Expo Extravaganza and the Cannabis Cup – and we built everything around 420.

“The publicity that High Times gave it is what made it an international thing. Until then, it was relatively confined to the Grateful Dead subculture.”

Is cannabis illegal in the UK?

Cannabis is classified as Class B Drug and the possession and combustion of it is illegal in the UK.

It is classed as a harmful and damaging substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and it is illegal to cultivate cannabis plants.

Being found in possession can result in a first offence warning, a £90 on-the-spot fine and even arrest for multiple offences.