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60 free Marijuana trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
55 free marijuana trivia questions and answers, built for a 420 party, a dispensary quiz night or anyone who wants to know the real history behind the plant. The set covers the science (who isolated THC and CBD, why the body's own cannabinoid is named for the Sanskrit word for bliss, what makes hemp legally hemp), the history (Herodotus on the Scythians, the Marihuana Tax Act, Harry Anslinger, the Shafer Commission Nixon ignored), the laws (the first state to decriminalise, the first country to legalise, Malta, Germany, Thailand and the coffeeshops of the Netherlands) and the culture (the Waldos and 4:20, Reefer Madness, Cheech & Chong, High Times, bhang at Holi and ganja in Rastafari). About a third of the questions are easy enough for anyone who has read a headline about legalisation; the rest go deeper into court cases, chemistry and etymology and will separate the casual from the truly well-read. Nothing here is a how-to; it is a knowledge quiz about a plant that has shaped medicine, law and pop culture for thousands of years. Every answer has been checked against a reference page, mostly Wikipedia's science, law and history articles, and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
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Q 01What did the five San Rafael high-schoolers who coined '420' in 1971 call themselves?
The Waldos
They named themselves for the wall outside school where they hung out. High Times later wrongly credited a police code before tracing the story back to them in 1998.
Q 02The originators of '420' agreed to meet at 4:20 p.m. by a school statue of which scientist?
Louis Pasteur
Their code phrase was '4:20 Louis'. After repeated failures to find the crop, it shrank to '4:20' and came to mean smoking itself.
Q 03Followers of which band spread the phrase '420' beyond its home town in the 1970s and 80s?
The Grateful Dead
One of the original group became a roadie for the band's bassist, Phil Lesh, and the term travelled with the tour.
Q 04Which country became the first in the modern era to legalise recreational cannabis, in December 2013?
Uruguay
President José Mujica signed the law; the plan let citizens grow their own for non-commercial use and licensed farmers for larger production.
Q 05On 17 October 2018 which nation became the first G7 country to legalise recreational cannabis nationwide?
Canada
The Cannabis Act made it only the second country in the world to do so. Its medical programme dated back to 2001, and prohibition to 1923.
Q 06Possession of up to how many grams of cannabis is decriminalised in the Netherlands?
5
Buyers must be 18 or over, and since 2013 the law technically limits entry to Dutch residents, though enforcement varies from town to town.
Q 07THC was first isolated in 1964 by Yehiel Gaoni and which 'godfather of cannabis research'?
Raphael Mechoulam
His lab's later work led to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system. He won the Israel Prize for chemistry in 2000 and died in 2023.
Q 08The chemist who first isolated THC, a Hebrew University professor, was born in which country?
Bulgaria
He was born in Sofia in 1930 to a Sephardic Jewish family; his physician father survived a concentration camp, and the family emigrated to Israel in 1949.
Q 09Cannabidiol (CBD) was first isolated and identified in 1940 by which American chemist?
Roger Adams
Adams also documented the first synthesis of THC from CBD in 1942, decades before anyone isolated THC directly from the plant.
Q 10Epidiolex, the first FDA-approved CBD medicine, treats seizures linked to Dravet syndrome and which other?
Lennox–Gastaut
In 2020 the label was widened to seizures from tuberous sclerosis complex. It remains the only prescription CBD product the FDA has approved.
Q 11Which first commissioner of the US Bureau of Narcotics drafted the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937?
Harry Anslinger
Anslinger held the post for an unprecedented 32 years, until 1962, and popularised the Mexican-Spanish spelling 'marihuana' in his campaigns.
Q 12The 1937 tax act was struck down in 1969 in a Supreme Court case brought by which famous LSD advocate?
Timothy Leary
The court found that applying for the tax stamp forced a person to incriminate themselves, violating the Fifth Amendment. Congress replaced the act the next year.
Q 13The 1936 propaganda film later famous as Reefer Madness was originally released under what title?
Tell Your Children
Q 21The Shafer Commission, created under Nixon to study marijuana, made what recommendation in 1972?
Decriminalise personal possession of small amounts
Chairman Raymond Shafer told Congress the criminal law was 'too harsh a tool' for personal possession. Nixon ignored the report.
Q 22Anandamide, the first endocannabinoid discovered in the human body, is named from a Sanskrit word meaning what?
Bliss
It binds to the same CB1 receptors that THC does. Its partner molecule, 2-AG, is actually far more abundant in the brain.
Q 23The High Times Cannabis Cup, founded in 1988, was first held each November in which city?
Amsterdam
All four names were used at some point as it toured the exploitation circuit, but Tell Your Children was the original. It ends with a teacher pointing at the camera.
Q 14Who originally financed the film that became Reefer Madness?
A church group
It was meant to be shown to parents as a morality tale. Producer Dwain Esper then recut it for the exploitation circuit, which is how it survived.
Q 15In 1972 NORML founder Keith Stroup bought a Library of Congress print of Reefer Madness for how much?
$297
NORML screened it on California campuses for a dollar a head, raising $16,000 for a 1972 legalisation initiative, and the film became a midnight-movie staple.
Q 16Which state was the first to legalise medical marijuana, through Proposition 215 in 1996?
California
The Compassionate Use Act passed with 56% of the vote after Governor Pete Wilson had vetoed medical cannabis bills in successive years.
Q 17Which US state was the first to decriminalise cannabis possession, in 1973?
Oregon
Eleven states followed between 1973 and 1978. Nevada did not even reduce possession to a misdemeanor until 2001.
Q 18In November 2012 which two states became the first in the world to vote to legalise recreational marijuana?
Colorado and Washington
Both measures passed on 6 November 2012. Legal retail sales began in Colorado on 1 January 2014 and in Washington that July.
Q 19Colorado's Amendment 64 earmarks the first $40 million a year of marijuana tax for what?
Public school construction
The money goes to the Building Excellent Schools Today fund. Even so, by 2017 most Colorado municipalities had opted out of allowing retail sales.
Q 20The 1970 US Controlled Substances Act placed cannabis in which category, the most restrictive of five?
Schedule I
That category is defined as high abuse potential with no accepted medical use. Federal moves to shift cannabis to Schedule III began in 2024.
Editor Steven Hager started it there in 1988. The first US edition was not held until 2010, after state medical laws made it possible.
Q 24High Times magazine (1974) was conceived as a one-off parody of which magazine?
Playboy
Founder Tom Forçade swapped sex for marijuana; the centerfold became a cannabis plant, and the joke ran for decades.
Q 25From 1974 to 2016 the magazine was published by a company whose initials spelled THC. What was it called?
Trans-High Corporation
The pun was deliberate. The magazine also spun off High Times Books and High Times Records.
Q 26Hashish is made by collecting and compressing which part of the cannabis plant?
Resin glands
The stalked resin glands are called trichomes and carry THC in higher concentrations than raw flower. Morocco, Afghanistan and Lebanon are historic producers.
Q 27Comedy duo Cheech & Chong, an American and a Canadian, first met in 1969 in which city?
Vancouver
Their first film, Up in Smoke, arrived in 1978. Their 1973 album Los Cochinos won a Grammy for Best Comedy Recording.
Q 28In Up in Smoke (1978), the pair unknowingly drive a van across the border that is built entirely of what?
Hardened marijuana resin
The film calls the material 'fiberweed', a play on fiberglass. Panned on release, it grossed over $104 million and invented the stoner-comedy genre.
Q 29Which record producer made his directorial debut with Up in Smoke?
Lou Adler
Adler had produced the Mamas & the Papas and Carole King's Tapestry, and co-produced the Monterey Pop Festival, before turning to comedy.
Q 30Which island nation was the first EU member to legalise personal cannabis, in 2021?
Malta
Adults may carry seven grams and grow four plants; the country had earlier made news when cannabis saplings appeared in traffic roundabouts on Gozo.