What Is 420 Slang For?

420 is slang for marijuana usage. People who smoke pot often make jokes when the clock reaches 4:20, or they slyly say that they are going to participate in 420 today. If you hear anyone talking about 420 in an at least somewhat secretive way, he or she is probably talking about going to smoke pot.

However, 420 is not as underground as some other terms for pot or more so, other terms for different drugs. Not everyone takes marijuana usage seriously as the usage of other drugs, such as ecstasy. Therefore, people do not necessarily try as hard to hide their marijuana usage.

Where Did 420 Originate From?

Lots of people have their own theories about where 420 came from. However, most of them are incorrect. The term 420 orginated at San Rafael High School in 1971. There was a group of pot smokers who called themselves the Waldos. They were not a large group; there were only about twelve or so of them. However, they would meet at 4:20 to smoke pot, by the statue of Louis Pasteur, located on campus.

After that, they started using the code "420" for any time that they would want to go and smoke pot. However, its origins were a very specific time at a specific location.

Misconceptions

A number of misconceptions exist revolving around the question of what is 420 slang for.

Hitler was born on April 20. That is a true fact; however, that is not where the relation of 420 and marijuana came from. First of all, Hitler was not associated with marijuana usage. Second of all, 420 came from a time of day, not date of the year.
The Columbine shootings occured on April 20. Again, this is true. Whether the killers chose this date because of its symbolism is not known. However, the original meaning of 420 predated the Columbine killings by a number of decades.
One popular rumor is that 420 is police dispatch code for pot. That simply isn't true.
People also get their timelines a little bit mixed up. They say that 420 is National Pot Smoker's Day; therefore, 420 stands for pot. Yet the idea of 420 actually predates the "holiday."

Other Slang Terms For Marijuana

420 is not the only slang term for marijuana. In fact, when people are talking about marijuana, they hardly ever use the word "marijuana." The most frequently used words are both weed and pot. Most of the time, 420 is used if someone is talking about an event, or talking about the actual date. As mentioned earlier, it's often used in a more joking sense too. People usually do not say "Let's go do some 420." They will say "Who has the pot?" or "Where's the weed?"

dro
pot
weed
ace
dooby
joint
bud
bammy
ganja
funny stuff
hash
pod
poke
potten bush
pretendica

What Is 420 Slang For?