Send This To Your Mom is a series of short, informational posts on weed and weed culture for people who have absolutely no idea about weed and weed culture. Finally, here’s your chance to email your mom a million links to articles about weed she never asked for. In this edition, we explain what "420-Friendly" means.

The story of “420” — or “4:20 PM” — begins, as most traditions do, rooted in myth. But the true story traces all the way back to 1971, as a signal for after school smoke sessions among a group of high school friends in San Rafael, CA.

Since then, the number has spawned conspiracy theories, city-wide events, and is still the most popular time to toke up. The history of the number is so dense, we even have a whole series on it. 

Now that you’re very hip with what “420” means, maybe you’re curious exactly what “420-friendly” means? Clearly it indicates a comfortability with the green stuff, but why is it popping up everywhere?

As medical and recreational use of cannabis is more widely adopted, businesses and people have adopted the old “420-friendly” moniker to basically say “we’re cool with weed here,” without literally saying “we’re cool with weed here.”

So go ahead, casually throw out “420-friendly” around your kids — and brace yourself for their reactions when they realize how cool their mom is now.  

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