Things You Didn’t Know About Weed

The Most Surprising Facts About Cannabis

Have you ever gotten super high and started to wonder things like “Where did 420 come from?” and “Did William Shakespeare write plays while high?” No? Just us? Either way, we’ve got some pretty cool facts about cannabis to share that may just blow your mind.

1. The Origin of 420

While nowadays, 420 is practically a national holiday for stoners, it didn’t start out that way. In fact, its origin story is kind of anti-climatic.

The term 420 was originally coined by a group of teenagers in San Rafael California back in the late 1970s. The group would meet up on campus to get high together at 4:20 PM, and the rest is history.

2. The First Online Purchase Was a Bag of Weed

While the internet didn’t enter households around the world until the 1990s, the first thing to ever be sold online was a bag of weed all the way back in 1971. A group of students at Stanford University in California got together in the school’s A.I laboratory and used one of the computers to sell a small bag of weed using ARPANET – the precursor to the internet we know and use today – to some students at MIT.

3. William Shakespeare Was a Stoner

One of the most influential and celebrated writers of all time, William Shakespeare may have been a secret stoner back in the 1500s. We know this because a recent study found cannabis residue in several pipes that Shakespeare used. Romeo and Juliet hits a little different knowing Shakespeare likely smoked weed while writing it.

READ MORE: Scientists Detect Traces of Cannabis on Pipes Found in William Shakespeare’s Garden

4. Mailing Weed is on the Rise

Despite being illegal, sending cannabis in the mail has become increasingly popular over the last 13 years. In fact, shipping weed using good old fashioned snail mail has increased by 400% since 2007. Don’t say you got the idea from us!

5. It Is Incredibly Difficult to Overdose on Cannabis

Did you know that it’s almost impossible to overdose on weed? In order to die from cannabis, you’d have to consume 1,500 pounds of weed in 15 minutes, which is pretty difficult to do.

Those are our top picks for the most interesting facts about cannabis. We hope you learned something new today!