Where does 420 come from?

This position traces the origins of '420' to music. It notes that figures from Bob Marley to John Lennon were famously open about cannabis, and explores claims crediting the term to musicians such as Bob Dylan or the Grateful Dead and their devoted following.

This position traces the origins of '420' — slang for cannabis — to the law. It weighs the claims that the number came from a Californian bill to legalise cannabis, or that it began as a police radio code for marijuana use, as underground origins for the term.

This position traces the origins of '420' — slang for cannabis — to history. It weighs competing origin stories, from the debunked claim linking the number to Adolf Hitler's birthday to the widely accepted account that a group of 1970s California teenagers, the 'Waldos', coined it.