where and how did the term "420 time" come about?
475731
In American culture, the number 420 (pronounced four-twenty) relates to the consumption of cannabis and elements of its associated culture. The exact origin of the term is unknown. Marijuana users gather on April 20 ("4/20" in U.S. dating shorthand) every year to celebrate and consume marijuana.\n\nAccepted origin\nSnopes.com, High Times magazine, The Marijuana-Logues, and The Straight Dope claim that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the water tower. One piece of evidence supporting an origin of the term from the time 4:20 is the fact that the number is always said "four twenty". This theory is also the most cited, and the most widely-accepted. \n\nOther possible suggested origins\nMarijuana grew wild on or near Highway 420 in Ontario in the 1960s. However, Highway 420 only gained its current name in 1972. Whether or not this is true, Highway 420 is the location for an annual legalization protest every April 20th. \nAt some American junior or senior high schools, "after-school detention" ends at 4:20. Thus 4:20 signifies the time when the detainees are finally free to smoke after the school day. \nThe term could have possibly come from H. P. Lovecraft's "Within The Walls of Eryx" which contains the line, "My route must have been far from straight, for it seemed hours before I was free of the mirage-plant's pervasive influence... When I did get wholly clear I looked at my watch and was astonished to find that the time was only 4:20." This theory for the origin of 4:20 was first postulated on the official website for the rock band Tool. \nAn ounce of marijuana sold gram by gram at $15, equals $420. \n\nRefuted urban legends\n420 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which marijuana burns, the primary method of use. (In reality, marijuana burns at or around 450 degrees.) \n420 is a police code for a drug bust or for "marijuana smoking in progress," or that 4:20 is or was the shift change for the police. However, there is no 420 police code. \nThere are 420 chemicals in marijuana (there are actually 315). \nApril 21 is the last day on which one is supposed to plant cannabis seeds (with the variety of planting regions and cannabis genetics, no such date can logically apply to all growing operations). \nApril 20 is approximately the last frost in the American climate, making it time to move pot plants outdoors. In actual fact the date varies from year to year, and from region to region. \n420 Day is celebrated as April 20th was the date of Bob Marley's death. Marley actually died on May 11, 1981.
99073
During the 'brown period' (betweeen 11 BC and 9 BC), caves were filled with shit and puke. Man tried everything including cooking, which cured the shits for good. BTW, that was also the origin of the word "BINGO!"
212144
I've never heard of 420 being used as a code for anything in law enforcement circles. \n\nI know a lot of pot-smoking kids who like to say it is, though.
201103
it is in Texas..also the cities make their own rules as to where you can and cannot smoke...such as restraunts,etc...
785778
Actually you are on the deep end of the thought spectrum. I like it – Deep Thinker.\n\nTime is basically a small equation of the essence of God’s eternal clock. Time doesn’t exist in eternity. Time ends, eternity doesn’t. \n\nWhether high or not, I think that your post is a great question, now, continue to think deep, just minus the blunt, man. ;-)\n\nBe blessed.
452065
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_%28cannabis_culture%29
317970
It's definitally not Greek.  It is also not the "police code" for pot smoking either.  There are numerous possible origins for the term "420" but because it is said Four Twenty and not four-hundred and twenty it is meant to describe both the time and the date.  It has become understood to mean pot-smoking time for stoners and April 20th has become a pot smoking holiday!
832980
It was written on hemp.
40948
laura has no idea what shes talking about (no offense to you laura if youre reading this)....the term "dope" comes from the word Dopamine which is a chemical found in some drugs. Strangely enough, its not found in marijuana. Technically marijuana shouldnt be called dope. But people do it anyways. \n\npeace
853543
It's called One Time Pad.
541914
Well I am not a smoker and I know what 4:20 is.  Thanks for the confidence in thinking anyone who doesn't smoke weed is stupid.
632442
F*** the patch, try having a better out look on life. I was smoking from 1994 until sept.2005. I only thought aboutthe nice people I could Pi** off by living longer.Cold turky
1003623
420!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE 420 DAY! ITS AN ENTIRE DAY DEVOTED TO BLAZING! oh wait, isn't that also called saturday? meh... whatever... I think I'll just go pack another bowl...
804569
42*10=420   42*100=4200\nnow u do it
1170816
This originated in the early 1980s. It is generally regarded as an American expression. This item from the New York newspaper the Syracuse Herald-American, Feb. 1982, which is the earliest version in print that I can find, puts that in some doubt. It's in a piece by Jerry Buck, writing out of Los Angeles, about actress Lauren Tewes
393250
phew.... here ya go:\n\n"The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang" by Tony Thorne (1990, originally published by Bloomsbury Publishing). "cakehole, n. British. Mouth. A slang term which was extremely widespread (and considered by many to be vulgar) in the 1950s and 1960s. It survives in the argot of schoolchildren."\n\nIn other words, it came from the British.
59735
The word first appeared in a December 1979 edition of The Los Angeles Times, and entered the Oxford English Dictionary 14 years later. The exact origin of the term is unknown but many believe it relates to some people’s habit of eating potato chips while watching TV.