Why do Americans take to stealing Mile 420 signs over and over again? It has to do with the culture of cannabis.
The United States is a huge country, so on its endless roads every certain number of kilometers they place a sign that indicates the number of miles where you are, to serve as a reference for drivers.
One of these signs, specifically the one that says Mile 420, it is stolen so often that in the states of Colorado, Idaho and Utah They have been replaced by others that says Mile 419.9.
What is happening? It has to do with cannabis culture, since in his slang 420 (they say four-twenty), it means consume marijuana. So some of these users steal the signs and post them in their home, as a joke to indicate that cannabis is being used there.
Where does the term 420 come from, and why is it associated with marijuana?
It all began in 1971, when five students from the San Rafael public high school in California found a supposed map that led to a hidden marijuana plantation, drawn by the person who had planted the drug.
These students, who called themselves The Waldos Because it was on a wall of the school, they decided to meet at the statue of Louis Pasteur that is in the institute, at 4:20 in the afternoon, to look for the plantation.
They used the code 4:20 Louis to stay, but after several failed attempts in which they found nothing, they shortened it to 4:20.
Somehow the story became popular, and among teenagers it began to become fashionable the term 4:20 to refer to the use of marijuana.
Over the years cannabis activists organized protests calling for its legalization on April 20th (4-20, as Americans write it). Now that it is legal in much of the United States, it is a day of celebration.
Pop references in movies, books, and comics are plentiful. An episode dedicated to drugs in the series Family Guy, is called 420.
This is the reason why Mile 420 signs are stolen often, and that have been replaced by Mile 419.9 in some states … which are also stolen, for being curious.
And they are not the only ones. Others that have to be replaced frequently are those of Mile 69. Surely you guess why …