Say "420" and almost everyone knows it means cannabis — but ask *why*, and you'll get a pile of confident, wrong answers. It's supposedly a police code. Or a Bob Dylan lyric. Or the number of compounds in the plant. None of those are true. The actual story is smaller and far more human: a handful of California high schoolers, a treasure-map rumor, and a meeting time that stuck. Here's where the number really comes from, which legends to retire, and how a private in-joke ended up on hoodies and headlines worldwide.

So where did 420 actually come from?

The origin is well-documented and traces to one specific group: five students at San Rafael High School in Marin County, California, in 1971, who called themselves the Waldos — the nickname came from the wall they liked to hang out on. That fall, the story goes, they got wind of a cannabis crop that a Coast Guardsman could no longer tend, supposedly abandoned somewhere near Point Reyes, and even got hold of a hand-drawn map to it.

To go search for it, they needed a time and place to meet after school. The plan: gather at the campus statue of Louis Pasteur at 4:20 p.m., once sports practice and other obligations were done. Their shorthand for the mission was "4:20 Louis." They never did find the legendary patch — but the meet-up time became their private code for getting together to smoke, and over time it got trimmed down to just "420."

Wait — isn't 420 a police code for marijuana?

No. This is the single most common myth, and it's simply false. There is no standard police or radio dispatch code "420" for cannabis use in progress. People sometimes point to California Penal Code section 420 as proof — but that statute is about obstructing entry onto public land, and has nothing to do with marijuana. The police-code story is a tidy-sounding explanation that got attached after the fact.

Didn't it come from a Bob Dylan song?

Also no. The Dylan theory notes that his song "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" has the refrain "everybody must get stoned," and that 12 × 35 = 420. It's a fun coincidence — and that's all it is. The multiplication was noticed *long after* the Waldos were already using the term; nobody sat down with a Dylan record and derived 420 from it. Like the police-code idea, it's a backronym: a meaning reverse-engineered onto a number that already existed.

The other legends worth dropping

A few more that circulate every April, all untrue:

• "It's the number of active chemicals in cannabis." The plant contains hundreds of compounds, but there's no meaningful count that lands on exactly 420 — the figure was invented to fit.
• "It's tea time in Holland," or some other European coffee-shop custom. There's no basis for it; it's just a plausible-sounding rumor.
• April 20 as the "real" reason. The date (4/20) came *from* the number, not the other way around. It's also Hitler's birthday, which some people wrongly cite as the source — a grim coincidence with zero connection to the Waldos or cannabis culture.

How did a high-school inside joke go worldwide?

Two things carried it: the Grateful Dead and High Times magazine. The Waldos had real ties to the Dead's orbit in Marin County — one of the group's older brothers was connected to the band, and the scene around the Dead was exactly the kind of tight, touring, word-of-mouth community where a good piece of slang travels far. Through the 1970s and '80s, "420" spread with Deadheads from show to show.

The leap to the mainstream came in 1990, when a flyer circulating at a Grateful Dead concert in the Bay Area invited people to smoke "420" on April 20 at 4:20 p.m. A copy reached editors at High Times, then the most influential cannabis magazine in the country. The magazine embraced the term, printed it, and repeated it — and with that reach, 420 stopped being a regional in-joke and became global shorthand, with 4/20 turning into an unofficial cannabis holiday.

What does 4/20 look like in Vermont?

In Vermont, adult-use cannabis is legal for those 21 and older, and April 20 has become a normal, if unofficial, date on the calendar — a moment shops and shoppers mark, much like anywhere else. But the culture and the law are two different things, and a few Vermont rules don't bend for the occasion:

• No public consumption. Vermont doesn't permit using cannabis in public — not on the Church Street Marketplace, not on the waterfront, not in a parked car. 4/20 doesn't change that. Whatever you buy is for private, at-home use.
• It's 21+, with a valid photo ID. Every licensed adult-use purchase in the state requires you to show government-issued ID at the door.
• It stays in Vermont. Cannabis bought here can't legally cross state lines, even into a neighboring state where it's also legal.
• Tax is built into the shelf price. Vermont applies a 14% cannabis excise tax plus the 6% sales tax, already reflected in what you pay at a licensed shop.

The practical version: if you want to mark the date, make it a private hang. Licensed Vermont shops — including Float On on the Church Street Marketplace — get busy around April 20, so ordering ahead beats waiting in line.

What should I pick up for a laid-back 420 at home?

Since the whole point of the number is a low-key get-together, lean toward formats that suit a private, unhurried evening rather than anything you'd use on the go. A few directions to browse on the live menu:

• Vermont craft flower — the classic, and a nice nod to the plant's own history. A jar of small-grower flower gives a shared, roll-your-own centerpiece for the night.
• Pre-rolls — the no-effort option if you'd rather not grind and roll; grab a pack so nobody has to play host to the paperwork.
• Edibles — good for a slow, seated hang, and easy to portion when you're sharing. Start low and give them time.
• A vape or concentrate — if your crew prefers something quick and flavor-forward between conversations.

Whatever you choose, everything on a licensed Vermont shelf moved through the state's regulated, lab-tested supply chain. New to any of it? Our plain-English guides cover the basics, or you can browse Float On's live menu before the day.