High Time

Jacob Sullum | January 27, 2006

The Drug War Chronicle marks its 420th issue with a meditation on the significance of those three digits to pot smokers. Years ago High Times debunked the plausible-sounding story that 20 minutes past 4 became associated with getting high because "420" was California police radio code for a marijuana violation. Yet I've always thought the alternative explanation it endorsed--revolving around a group of San Rafael teenagers who used to gather in the late afternoon to pass a joint around--sounded fishy. How do you authenticate such a claim? Anyway, maybe you can think of a better, even if less true, story.

Comments

|1.27.06 @ 12:56PM|#

I thought the name came from the Bob Dylan song "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", since the lyrics say "Everybody must get stoned", and 12 multiplied by 35 is 420

|1.27.06 @ 12:59PM|#

James Frey invented it.

|1.27.06 @ 1:00PM|#

James Frey invented it.

|1.27.06 @ 1:00PM|#

But doesn't 'and' signify addition while 'by' signifies multiplication? I could be wrong. Like 'Four score and 20 years' as opposed to a 'four by twenty square'?

|1.27.06 @ 1:04PM|#

The San Rafael legend is as well-authenicated as anything of that sort could be. I've read a few articles from publications in the Bay Area that quote members of the original 420 clique, and they all tell the same basic story. I don't have the cites handy, but google should find 'em.

|1.27.06 @ 1:04PM|#

Dagnabit!!! I thought I outsmarted it.

|1.27.06 @ 1:06PM|#

Well, fellow, you have to keep in mind...

They were stoned.

|1.27.06 @ 1:06PM|#

Goes back to the good ole days when 4 oz could be purchased for $20. $5 buck per lid.

|1.27.06 @ 1:13PM|#

But doesn't 'and' signify addition while 'by' signifies multiplication?

But is Bob Dylan aware of that distinction?

|1.27.06 @ 1:23PM|#

heh..Sullum @ 4:20...clever, Jacob, clever.

|1.27.06 @ 1:28PM|#

In a similar vein, Steve Kubby, a medical marajuana activist who sought Refugee protection in Canada, was extradited today to face a 120 day sentence in the United States.

|1.27.06 @ 1:30PM|#

Funny, kids. By the way, you're all busted. The Hit & Run message board is a DEA scam, and we've just closed the trap.

amazingdrx|1.27.06 @ 1:34PM|#

That time based explanation might be verified by checking out the end o' class time for that high school? Just a thought.

I doubt that it was 4:20, but maybe with detention...as generally all heads are widely known to be on perpetual "double secret probation", which in turn leads to....a higher probability of detention.

|1.27.06 @ 1:35PM|#

Freud had a regular appointment at "4:20 in the afternoon" where he would get high for experimental purposes.

|1.27.06 @ 1:43PM|#

4.20 is my change after giving my "man" $30.20

Geoff Nathan|1.27.06 @ 1:44PM|#

You authenticate such things by looking them up in the appropriate dictionary (for example the dictionary of American slang and colloquialisms, now available for A-M). Or check with the American Dialect Society (which I will attempt to do this weekend). Don't necessarily believe someone who claims to have invented a term--they usually didn't. And there's a great deal of mythology repeated over and over again--such as that associated with 'hot dog' and 'Big Apple'. See http://www.barrypopik.com/ for the real story.

Geoff

amazingdrx|1.27.06 @ 1:47PM|#

"Dress Code Detention
3:20 - 4:20"

Eureka!!!

http://www.spalding.k12.ga.us/cowan_ms/calendar/caljan06.html

|1.27.06 @ 1:53PM|#

It's the quick phone number you dial... Like directory assistance, only to find a dealer.

|1.27.06 @ 1:53PM|#

The one about the highschool kids meeting at 4:20 seems unlikely to me. For 420 to become so universal it had to have started earlier. my buddies in highschool and I did the exact same thing, we even had this secluded forested spot in a park a few blocks from the school that we named '420 spot'. This was in Salt Lake city in the 80's so 420 had to be well established before that. We (my friends and i) subscribed to the theory that it was a california police code for posession. I can see these kids in San Rafael claiming to have started it when they did no such thing.

keith|1.27.06 @ 1:55PM|#

I thought 4:20 came from the Gettysburg Address "Four score and twenty years ago, our founding fathers..." because everyone knows the Founding Fathers all grew marijuana.

amazingdrx|1.27.06 @ 2:02PM|#

"everyone knows the Founding Fathers all grew marijuana."

It's true, without hemp rope our navy would never have beaten the brits. I think George Washington's teeth were carved from stalk wood too.

|1.27.06 @ 2:04PM|#

The one I heard was that it was the number of chemicals contained in mj.

|1.27.06 @ 2:08PM|#

Is nobody aware of Snopes anymore? That said, I don't know how reliable their sources are either.

|1.27.06 @ 2:09PM|#

I always figured it was supposed to be sort of analagous to Afternoon Tea

Just a respite from the day, sometime between 4-5 pm that involves crumbled up herbs and munchies.

|1.27.06 @ 2:12PM|#

I always figured it was supposed to be sort of analagous to Afternoon Tea

Either way, it's a respite from the day between 4-5 pm that involves crumbled up herbs and munchies.

|1.27.06 @ 2:21PM|#

It's the quick phone number you dial... Like directory assistance, only to find a dealer.

That'll be the day...the day that I fly the biggest fucking American flag ever made over my house..probably put up a giant "Mission Accomplished" sign somewhere, too.

|1.27.06 @ 2:38PM|#

I think it's a reminder that the alternative for a drug dealer is a job paying $4.20 an hour - back when that was the minimum wage

The Wine Commonsewer|1.27.06 @ 2:39PM|#

Now that's settled. How come 13 became synonymous with pot? Doubt if it is anymore or if it has been for many years but I never knew why it once was?

Okay, I looked it up. It's because the 13th letter of the alphabet is M for Marijuana.

|1.27.06 @ 4:23PM|#

The version I had heard was that there was a clock on the corner of Haight and Ashbury that was broken and stuck at 4:20.

People would joke about how they wouldn't smoke until 4:20, then look at the clock, and say "Okay! We can smoke!"

It's a charming, if innacurate, story.

Much nicer than the one about 4/20 being Hitler's Birthday.

|1.27.06 @ 5:09PM|#

Office folks often refer to an after work drinking gatherings as a 4:31. F'ing degenerates!

|1.27.06 @ 5:15PM|#

the biggest fucking American flag ever made

Made from hemp, no doubt...

|1.27.06 @ 5:26PM|#

While we're on the subject, what's the story behind "25 or 6 to 4"...

|1.27.06 @ 5:34PM|#

Supposedly not about drugs. . . .

|1.27.06 @ 6:28PM|#

Much nicer than the one about 4/20 being Hitler's Birthday.

Comment by: Jaybird at January 27, 2006 04:23 PM

Yeah, one summer I worked in a school cleaning the classrooms out, and 4/20 was written on a lot of desks. One of the guys turns to me one day and says,
"You know why these kids write 4/20?"
I said "yeah..." but before I can say anything, he like triumphantly announces "Hitler's Birthday!"
I was like, "Oh, nah, I don't think so, it has to do with marijuana, something like the police code or whatever, so it just means weed."
He looked at me suspiciously, and said "Well I never heard about that, but it is Hitler's birthday too."
The guy was maybe 45-50 years old I think, and this was the summer of 2002. Maybe he just never smoked or hung out with people who did, but I dunno, one time he was painting the floor of the basement and painted himself into the corner, where he then had to sit while the paint dried.
Another time he was telling me about how he and his son would go to Long Island Lizards (professional lacrosse) games, and said, "they have that player, he's really good"
I don't know much about lacrosse, but friends who played had mentioned Gary Gait as being the best lacrosse player ever, and I read in the paper he was on the team, so I was like, "Oh, Gary Gait?" He said "No...not him..." A minute later, he exclaimed, "Gary Gait!"

The Wine Commonsewer|1.28.06 @ 12:40AM|#

Jim, I suspect that Pro beat me to it. As young uns we were convinced that 25 or 6 to 4 was about a guy strung out on speed.

Wintermute|1.28.06 @ 12:44AM|#

Look here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4/20

|1.28.06 @ 2:10AM|#

Here's the true story of 420 and the Waldos from the December 1998 issue of High Times.

http://420.marijuana.com/showpost.php?s=7ff249958c8e8adebecde58e90df61a6&p=26777&postcount=14

;^ !

joshua corning|1.28.06 @ 6:20PM|#

I have this theory that if high times and the drug culture behind it didn't exist that pot would have been legalized long ago...this is only a theory.

Anyway if I never see another close up center fold of alaskan purple I won't be disappointed.

|1.29.06 @ 12:03AM|#

I have a theory too. If racist fearmongers and greedy liars hadn't conspired to make a plant illegal in the first place there may have never been a 'drug culture', certainly no High Times mag.

Here's more history: http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html

|1.29.06 @ 6:35PM|#

racist fearmongers and greedy liars

I knew it...I am an anti-semite!

Thanks for clearing that up Louie.

|1.29.06 @ 8:45PM|#

Self-Realization can be a good thing Joshua. So are you a big fan of Nixon too?

Nixon on Jews and marijuana:
"I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it. That's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I suppose it's because most of them are psychiatrists . . ."

More on Tricky Dick's War on (some) Drugs:
http://www.csdp.org/news/news/nixon.htm