About

According to Steven Hager, the editor of High Times, and other various sources of cannabis literature, the term "420" was coined in 1971 by a group of students at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California, who called themselves the "Waldos" and congregated by the campus statue of Louis Pasteur to smoke weed at 4:20 p.m. Since then, it has become adopted by marijuana smokers across the rest of the country, and of course memers.

The Memes

The term 420 can be used to directly refer to marijuana. The term "420 friendly" is also commonly used among those who smoke and even those who do not to refer to people or places that are acceptable and open to the use of marijuana. The term has also been routinely referenced in various popular movies and television shows. In Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the final score of the football game is displayed as 42-0 and most of the clocks used as props in Pulp Fiction are set to 4:20.

With the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, many hemp-based and cannabis culture products have taken on the term as part of their brand, including Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Co. 420 Pale Ale, 420 Tours (low-cost travel packages to the Netherlands and Jamaica), Highway 420 Radio, as well as video games, record labels and musical acts.