Hoy, April 20thit is celebrated World Marijuana Day.
But how did a normal April day become around the world the Marijuana Day? Here we will tell you his story.
You may have heard rumors about why on April 20, also known as 420 Because of the way the date is written in the US (4/20), it is the day of this plant. Some of the most popular are: 420 is the code that the police used to describe marijuana use; he number of active chemicals on the plant when smoking; or April 20 It was Bob Marley’s birthday -it’s February 6-. None of that is true.
Thousands of people marched from the Angel of Independence to the Hemicycle to Juárez on the occasion of World Marijuana Day 2023. | Photo: Cuartoscuro.
The origin is much simpler and goes back to the beginning of the 70s in California, United States.
Five Marin County students gathered after school to smoke. The group of friends, known as the ‘Waldos’, set the official meeting time at 4:20 p.m.. and finally they started using 420 as code for smoking.
One of the members of ‘Waldos’, Dave Reddixhe later got a job as tour manager for the rock band Grateful Deadwho helped him popularize the term 420reveals the magazine Time.
Then a group of fans helped him distribute a flyer in December 1990 what They invited people to smoke on April 20 at 4:20 p.m. and the popularity of the date continued to grow.
But it was until a journalist from the magazine High Times He took over the steering wheel and published it in 1991, catching the attention of cannabis consumers in every state and making it a national phenomenon. The magazine continued to use the term 420 in future publications, consolidating its place in popular language.
Steve Bloomthe reporter High Times who originally received the pamphlet, later gave credit to the ‘Waldos’. for having created the term, saying in a blog in 2013:
They wanted people from all over the world to come together one day a year and collectively smoke marijuana at the same time and gave rise to the idea of a smoking holiday, which became April 20.
Today this day is commemorated in a large number of cities around the world and is used in search of the legal use of marijuana.
Celebration of World Marijuana Day in Berlin, Germany. | Photo: Reuters.