Schoology Morning Show Kilton Fernandes

What is 4/20, and why is it a stoner holiday? A look at how ‘420’ became linked to marijuana

Friday is April 20, or 4/20. That’s the numerical code for marijuana’s high holiday, a homage to pot’s enduring appeal and universal slang for smoking.

Festivities are planned worldwide, culminating with a synchronized smoke at 4:20 p.m.

How the marijuana-loving world came to mark the occasion is believed traceable to five Northern California men now in their 60s with bad backs and graying hair. They are the unofficial grandmasters by virtue of the code they created nearly 50 years ago as students at a suburban San Francisco high school in 1971.

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‘‘We thought it was a joke then,’’ said David Reddix, a filmmaker and retired CNN cameraman. ‘‘We still do.’’

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Reddix and his four buddies — Steve Capper, Larry Schwartz, Jeff Noel and Mark Gravich — were a

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