where did 4/20 come?
Have you ever wondered where the origins of 4/20 begin?
What’s so special about this date? What does it symbolize?
Well, after thorough investigation we found that Steve Bloom was one of the first journalists to write about 4/20 when he worked at High Times in the 90s. Bloom was one of the first editors to give the date more recognition.
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Steve Bloom claims that he discovered 4/20 when he went to a concert in the 90s. He was having a good time, enjoying the Grateful Dead and someone handed him a flyer at that time.
The flyer had a message that instructed everyone to smoke weed together at 4:20 on April 20th. Steve thought it was a fun concept, considering he was an editor at High Times and decided to share this information with the rest of his work-team.
“I was a news editor at the time, so I transcribed the flyer and published it in the May 1991 issue. My little write up in High Times was the first time “4/20” got any national publicity.” (https://www.freedomleaf.com/420-flyer/)
From then on, the trend-wave continued Bloom states, “4/20 started to pop up on the High Times Hemp 100 list of things that stoners like. After a few years, there were baseball hats, t-shirts and stickers. 4/20 started to take off and it quickly became popular nationwide.”
Let’s Take It Back to the 70’s (where did 4/20 come)
However, the original concept of 4/20 started in California during the 70s. It was used as a police code to detect any cannabis-use within neighborhoods.
So, when the locals heard about the police call they decided to adopt the expression “4/20” when they would light up a joint – “Dude, let’s go on our 4/20 route!”
Fast forward to now, and it has become a national holiday to celebrate 4/20 on April 20th.
Nowadays you can find major rallies and parades that occur across the country celebrating 4/20 day – festivities are becoming more mainstream and commercialized.
Marijuana legalization activists have tried to bring a more formal aspect to the celebration, by framing it as a moment to push their political agenda on cannabis use. (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/19/18484698/what-is-420-meaning-marijuana-legalization)
4/20 has started out as a way to communicate between the locals to join in on the next smoke-session.
However, it grew exponentially within the social-political sphere.
People nowadays are not afraid to stand up and advocate for cannabis rights and this is all thanks to 4/20!
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