Marijuana holiday 4/20 coincides with Easter and Passover this year. Here's what to know

Marijuana culture's high holiday, known as 4/20, fell this year on Easter Sunday, as well as the last day of Passover, meaning cannabis fans celebrated in some unusual ways, including an “Easter nug hunt” in Los Angeles, kosher-style THC gummies in New York and a “blaze and praise” drag brunch in Portland, Oregon.

“It seemed appropriate with egg prices today that we'd be searching for something else,” said Brett Davis, who runs the marijuana tour company Weed Bus Los Angeles and organized the “Easter nug hunt.”

Here’s a look at 4/20’s history and how it's being celebrated this year:

The origins of the date, and the term “420” generally, were long murky.

Some claimed it referred to a police code for marijuana possession or was derived from Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35,” with its refrain of “Everybody must get stoned,” 420 being the product of 12 times 35.

But the prevailing explanation is that it started in the 1970s with a group of bell-bottomed buddies from San Rafael High School, in California’s Marin County north of San Francisco, who called themselves “the Waldos.”

A friend’s brother was afraid of getting busted for a patch of cannabis he was growing in the woods at nearby Point Reyes, so he drew a map and gave the teens permission to harvest the crop, the story goes.

During fall 1971, at 4:20 p.m., just after classes and football practice, the group would meet up at the school’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur, smoke a joint and head out to search for the weed patch. They never did find it, but their private lexicon — “420 Louie” and later just “420” — would take on a life of its own.

The Waldos saved postmarked letters and other artifacts from the 1970s referencing “420,” which they now keep in a bank vault, and when the Oxford English Dictionary added the term in 2017, it cited some of those documents as the earliest recorded uses.

A brother of one of the Waldos was a close friend of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, as Lesh once confirmed in an interview with the Huffington Post, now HuffPost. The Waldos began hanging out in the band’s circle, and the slang term spread.

Fast-forward to the early 1990s: Steve Bloom, a reporter for the cannabis magazine High Times, was at a Dead show when he was handed a flyer urging people to “meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais.” High Times published it.

“It’s a phenomenon,” one of the Waldos, Steve Capper, now 69, once told The Associated Press. “Most things die within a couple years, but this just goes on and on. It’s not like someday somebody’s going to say, ‘OK, Cannabis New Year’s is on June 23rd now.’”

While the Waldos came up with the term, the people who made the flier that was distributed at the Dead show — effectively turning 4/20 into a holiday — remain unknown.

With weed, naturally.

In New York City, the cannabis brand Tokin' Jew is advertising a kosher-style THC gummy line, “Tokin' Chews,” designed to meet dietary restrictions for Passover.

Davis said he expected 300 people to partake in the West Hollywood Easter nug scavenger hunt this weekend, aided by a mobile app leading them through participating dispensaries, trivia challenges and “stoner activities.” There is a $500 cash prize.

In Portland, Bar Carlo hosted the “blaze and praise” drag brunch. Cannabis consumption wasn't allowed onsite but there was a door-prize gift basket from a local dispensary complete with a mini glass bong and white sequined bunny ears.

Bar owner Melinda Archuleta said the brunch was a dry run for hosting Pride month events in June. She herself doesn't care much for marijuana, but as a Mexican American who has been influenced by Catholicism, she is interested in seeing the two cultures melded “in a cheeky way.”

“We’ve obviously given them carte blanche to do whatever they want — it's 21 and up — so it doesn't matter if it's sacrilegious or borderline offensive," Archuleta said of the performers.

One drag queen wearing a crown made of fake marijuana leaves hoisted a giant white cross — with the ends of each span designed to look like a lighted joint — and offered it to spectators, who pretended to take a puff.

There were bigger celebrations, too, including the Mile High 420 Festival in Denver and one put on by SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta. Hippie Hill in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park historically has attracted massive crowds, but the gathering was canceled for a second straight year, with organizers citing a lack of financial sponsorship and city budget cuts.

Just north of the Bay Area, Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California, releases its “Waldos’ Special Ale” every year on 4/20 in partnership with the term’s coiners.

4/20 also has become a big industry event, with vendors gathering to try each other’s wares.

There are 24 states that allow recreational marijuana and 14 others allowing it for medical purposes. But the movement recently has suffered some setbacks, with voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota deciding not to adopt legalization measures last November.

Several states also have cracked down on intoxicating products derived from hemp, which have been widely sold even in prohibition states thanks to a loophole in the federal Farm Bill.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. As a candidate, President Donald Trump said he would vote for Florida’s amendment and signaled support for reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a process started by the Biden administration.

But his administration has not indicated cannabis policy is a priority. A fact sheet released by the White House last month complained that marijuana decriminalization in Washington, D.C., was an example of “failed policies” that “opened the door to disorder.”

A bipartisan group of senators last week reintroduced legislation that would ensure states can adopt their own cannabis policies and remove certain financial hurdles for the industry, such as letting entities deduct business expenses on their taxes.

Charles Alovisetti, a lawyer with the cannabis industry law firm Vicente LLP, said he hopes the administration will push forward with marijuana reform at the federal level, saying “it does align with some of their policy objectives — namely reducing criminal activity, or cartel activity.”

He also encouraged advocates to keep pushing, noting some measures such as improving banking access for marijuana businesses might pass as part of larger legislative packages.

“You continue speaking up, even if the political momentum isn't there,” Alovisetti said. “It's only possible if you stay in everyone's ear.”

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull adjusts the green fabric on his cross made to look like lit joints after performing in a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Cannabis products are seen for sale at Have a Heart cannabis dispensary Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Kobe Norell shops for products at Have a Heart cannabis dispensary Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A customer at Have a Heart cannabis dispensary poses for a photo while wearing marijuana-themed leaf socks Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Drag queen Valerie DeVille adjusts her veil before performing in a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull, left, looks up at their girlfriend Anna Quaintance after performing in a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull walks with a cross made to look like lit joints as he performs during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Henry Rice looks at items he won in a giveaway Easter basket during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull, left, holds a cross made to look like lit joints as Krissi Beckel pretends smoke from it during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Gabriel Ramos poses for a photo in front of a large marijuana cigarette and downtown Seattle mural as Sarah Vargas takes a photo at Have a Heart cannabis dispensary Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull adjusts the green fabric on his cross made to look like lit joints after performing in a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull holds a cross made to look like lit joints and pretends smoke from it while performing during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A glass pipe is seen in an Easter giveaway basket during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Drag performer Ed Du'Bull receives money from audience members during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Riley Cook adjusts bunny ears on her boyfriend Henry Rice during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Drag performer Ed De'Bull wears a crown with faux marijuana leaves during a "blaze and praise" drag brunch at Bar Carlo on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

FILE - Cannabis is displayed for customers at the Marijuana Paradise on Friday, April 19, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

FILE - Natalie Rice, left, kisses her new husband, Lee Rice, beneath a canopy of faux marijuana plants during a ceremony at the Cannabis Chapel, Wednesday, April 20, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - People smoke marijuana during the annual 4/20 marijuana gathering at Civic Center Park in downtown Denver, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

FILE - Kenny Boynton smokes a joint San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, April 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson, file)

FILE - Music fans seek shelter in a grass hut at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in Bethel, N.Y., Aug. 17, 1969. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - A vendor makes change for a marijuana customer at a cannabis marketplace in Los Angeles, April 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

FILE - In this April 12, 2018, photo, a marijuana plant awaits transplanting at the Hollingsworth Cannabis Company near Shelton, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

FILE - In this Friday, April 13, 2018, photo, the Waldos, from left, Mark Gravitch, Larry Schwartz, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel and Steve Capper sit on a wall they used to frequent at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, Calif. Friday is April 20, or 4/20. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

FILE - A guest takes a puff from a marijuana cigarette at the Sensi Magazine party celebrating the 420 holiday in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, April 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — President Donald Trump offered some encouraging words and advice for graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday in a speech interspersed with impressions of transgender weightlifters, accusations that judges were interfering with his agenda and attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The Republican’s jolting speech was standard fare for Trump and well-received by the crowd in deep-red Alabama, which backed him in all three of his presidential runs.

“You’re the first graduating class of the golden age of America,” the president told the graduates.

But he quickly launched into a campaign-style diatribe, saying that the U.S. was being “ripped off” before he took office and that the last four years, when he was out of power, “were not good for our country.”

“But don’t let that scare you,” he said. “It was an aberration.”

The president of the University of Alabama, Stuart Bell, told graduates before Trump took the stage that Thursday night’s event was all about them.

“This special ceremony offers a meaningful opportunity for you, for I, to reflect on the important connection between academic inquiry, civic leadership, and public service,” Bell said.

Trump mostly went in a different direction.

He did a grunting impression of a female weightlifter as he criticized the participation of transgender women in sports. He bragged about how tech moguls have warmed up to him, saying, “They all hated me in my first term, and now they’re kissing my ass.”

And he falsely claimed that the 2020 election, which he lost, was “rigged.”

But after talking up his tariff plans, sharing his successes from his first 100 days in office and bashing the media, Trump turned back to the graduates, offering 10 pieces of advice drawn from his life and career, such as “Think of yourself as a winner,” “Be an original” and “Never, ever give up.”

He told them they were never too young to be successful and described how he worked on his first hotel development deal in his 20s.

“Now is the time to work harder than you’ve ever worked before,” he said. “Find your limits and then smash through everything.”

Although Trump described the speech as a commencement address, it is actually a special event that was created before graduation ceremonies that begin Friday. Graduating students had the option of attending the event.

Former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban also spoke, regaling the audience with a story about visiting the Oval Office in 2018 during Trump's first term. Saban said Trump was a gracious host.

In his remarks Thursday, Trump noted that he was marking his 100th day in office and touted the plummeting levels of arrests at the southern U.S. border as evidence that his immigration policies were working. But he accused the courts of trying to stop him from fulfilling the promises he made on the campaign trail.

“Judges are interfering, supposedly based on due process,” he said. “But how can you give due process to people who came into our country illegally?”

Trump has a long history of injecting such rhetoric into his remarks at venues where traditional political talk was seen as unseemly.

On his first full day in office in 2017, he used a speech at a memorial for fallen CIA agents to complain about journalists and defend the size of his crowd at the inauguration. Later that year, he drew backlash for talking about politics at a Boy Scouts gathering. And earlier this year, he delivered a grievance-filled speech at the Justice Department where he threatened to “expose” his enemies.

Ahead of Trump's arrival, Emily Appel, a 22-year-old advertising major from Norcross, Georgia, called Trump's appearance at her school “a cherry on top” of her college years.

She said she hoped he had a message to share that was "positive about us being able to work in the real world and for our future.”

Sophie Best, who is graduating with a communications degree, said, “I don’t think that we could have had a greater person come to speak."

The 21-year-old from Cartersville, Georgia, said she attended Trump's first presidential inauguration in 2017 when she was a freshman in high school, along with her father, who she said loves Trump.

“I think that no matter what political party or whatever you believe in, I think that it’s super cool that we get to experience and make history and be a part of this,” she said.

At a park a mile away, hundreds of people gathered at a counter-rally hosted by College Democrats. One-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke of Texas and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama, addressed the attendees at their event, called a “Tide Against Trump” — a play on the university’s nickname.

Aidan Meyers, a 21-year-old junior studying biology at the university, said he was upset by the decision to let Trump speak at a graduation-related event.

“I felt betrayed that the university was willing to put up with someone who has made it clear that they hate academia, essentially holding funding above universities' heads as a bargaining chip, unless they bow down to what he wants, which is kind of a hallmark sign with fascist regime,” Meyers said.

O'Rourke told the rally that Trump was trying to make the students’ graduation “all about him, true to form.” He urged students and others gathered to go out and use their voices to “win America back.”

“The power of people works in this country, even against Donald Trump,” O’Rourke said.

Jones told the crowd they were there “not just as a protest, but as a movement.”

“You are here today because you’re concerned, you’re afraid. You understand that this country’s great democracy is teetering right now with what we’re seeing going on,” the former senator said.

Trump’s presence also drew criticism from the Alabama NAACP, which said his policies are hurting universities and students, particularly students of color.

After his stop in Alabama, Trump is scheduled to travel to Florida for a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Later this month, he is scheduled to give the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

University of Alabama president Stuart Bell speaks before President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump walks with Air Force Col. Angela Ochoa, Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing from Marine One to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., en route Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)