Hundreds of people have gathered in celebration of April 20, i.e. 420, better known as National Stoner Day, an unofficial holiday. The video above shows billows of smoke hovering over a crowd in San Francisco to celebrate marijuana, specifically gathered in time for 4:20.
So what is 420 exactly, and where did it originate? There are several theories, such as it being the official “code” that police use for possession of marijuana or the arrest of a pot smoker. According to Snopes, none of the aforementioned are true. Instead, the website states that its origin consists of the following:
The 420 origins appear to lie in the escapades of a group of friends from San Rafael high school, northern California, in 1971. That autumn, the five teenagers came into possession of a hand-drawn map supposedly locating a marijuana crop at Point Reyes, north-west of San Francisco.
The friends — who called themselves the Waldos because they used to hang out by a wall — met after school, at 4:20 pm, and drove off on their treasure hunt. They never found the plot. ‘We were smoking a lot of weed at the time,’ says Dave Reddix or Waldo Dave, now a filmmaker. ‘Half the fun was just going looking for it.’ The group began using the term 420. So did friends and acquaintances, who included — at a couple of steps removed — members of the Grateful Dead rock band. The term spread among the band’s fans, known as Deadheads.
Then in 1990 Steve Bloom, an editor at High Times, saw 420 explained on a Grateful Dead concert flyer. Staff on the magazine, long the leading publication on marijuana, started using it.
Cheech and Chong are celebrating by watching “Up in Smoke,” starring themselves.
“Happy 420 from Cheech and Chong! ??? @CheechAndChong,” the duo tweeted:
Happy 420 from Cheech and Chong! 💨🙌🤘 @CheechAndChong
Others are joining in on the fun where hashtag #420 is trending on Twitter:
Snoop Dogg is offering a question and answer session at 4:20 today:
happy 420 💨 to celebrate the holiday im taking over the @JokersWildTBS twitter to answer some questions from yall . join me at 420 est 👊🏿 #JokersWild #SnoopsFavoriteHoliday
@chuzzuz is celebrating the day with a song, which garnered over 10,000 views at the time of publishing:
And many say they took advantage of the National School Walkout Day, intended to protest guns in the U.S., to instead participate in the celebration of 420:
@r_little_finger tweeted:
Hogg says ‘on 4/20, we walk out everywhere. No matter where you are – if it’s home, school, or work – walk out.
Nothing like telling all students to walk out on ‘420’ marijuana smoke out Day.
Bet all kids walk out to support getting high
Proving yet again David Hogg is a DOPE
“Any one notice how the anti-gunners planned the next walk out on 420?,” @riley1234198 wrote. “Yup watch there will be more protest to legalize drugs then banning guns. It’s the only way they can draw big crowds is the drug crowd. Law enforcement time to take names of these so called protesters.”
Thousands of students across the country participated in this year’s walkout:
“Kids hold a walkout on #420 acting like it’s for #GunContolNow. C’mon now,” @BigStallbowski tweeted.
“Notice National School Walk out happens to be on 420 y’all students ain’t slick ?,” said @KobeIsDaddy: