Cali smoke
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No possession tickets issued during CU's 4/20 smokeout
Campus police estimate crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 at unofficial event
By Brittany Anas (Contact), Lance Vaillancourt (Contact)
Monday, April 20, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. — Balloon artist Mary Tester twisted together green marijuana leaves for people to wear as crowns during the annual 4/20 smokeout Monday on the University of Colorado’s campus.
Call her craft pot heads for the potheads.
Norlin Quad became the stage of a pot-smoker’s picnic as an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people packed on to the field to protest drug laws, play Hacky Sack to the tune of Bob Marley, and, in some cases, just stand back and take pictures with their camera phones.
At 4:20 p.m., a cloud of smoke hovered over the field, and the forecast above Norlin turned to foggy. The sound of drum beats, and coughing, echoed through the field.
“I think it’s awesome — especially when that cloud rises up over the crowd and you know that everyone is doing the same thing at the same time,” said Ryan Van Loo, who came from Arapahoe Community College in Littleton to attend the with a group of friends.
“Usually people are so low-key about smoking, but this is the one day of the year that everyone can come out in the open and do it together.”
No tickets were issued for marijuana possession at the event, CU police Cmdr. Tim McGraw said. He said authorities treated nine people for alcohol or drug overdoses, and police discouraged non-licensed vendors selling food and apparel.
Possessing small amounts of marijuana is a petty crime carrying a $100 fine. (Littering could be more expensive.)
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said the smoke-out is difficult to squelch because there are so many non-students who flood the campus. The unofficial event becomes like a concert, spectacle and drug-law protest, he said.
“It’s an event we don’t like,” he said. “We don’t sponsor it or support it. We inherit it.”
Still, the celebration went down smoothly, with little backlash from CU.
“It wouldn’t be a good idea to go in and confront a crowd this size,” Hilliard said.
University administrators, employees and students will meet in coming weeks to talk about ways to handle future 4/20 celebrations. Past strategies have included turning sprinklers on, barricading a campus field and taking photos of pot smokers, posting them online and offering cash rewards to identify the tokers caught on film.
This year, Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano sent an e-mail to students asking them to not participate because the event tarnishes the reputation of their school.
Troy Johnson, a junior political science major, agrees. He waded through the crowd of pot smokers with a poster that said: “Smoking marijuana makes you stupid.”
“Not everyone in Boulder smokes marijuana,” he said. “This is kind of embarrassing for our school.”
His friend Garrett Graff, a sophomore business major, held a sign that said marijuana is an illegal drug. Graff, who is from Jefferson County, said 4/20 should be a day to commemorate victims of the Columbine High School tragedy.
But protesters made their public pitch that cannabis is harmless and should be legal.
Aaron Rael, 34, of Longmont, who said he has a head injury, said marijuana is a natural painkiller and better than prescription drugs.
“It’s the best medicine out there,” he said after smoking with the masses at 4:20 p.m.
Jordan Martinez, 18, celebrated the cannabis culture with a puff of pot, too. He said marijuana should be legal.
“You can do everything with it,” he said. “Like build houses, save rain forests and make food.”
He pointed to the crowd, and noted how calm everybody was acting.
Participants, who began gathering hours before the smoke-out, threw Frisbees, blew bubbles and broke out in the occasional dance.
“We’ve just been sitting out in the sun, enjoying the weather and watching people,” said Kate Francisco, who traveled with a friend to CU from Rochester, N.Y., to attend CU’s 4/20 celebration.
“My brother goes to school here and we came out to Boulder to visit him while we’re on spring break — and we decided to come out for 4/20, too,” said Kyndle Caligris, Francisco’s friend.
In keeping with the counter-cultural spirit of the holiday, many students and attendees dressed to the nines for the occasion, adorning themselves in everything from weed-beaded Mardi Gras necklaces to tie-dye and other traditional hippie garb.
One man dressed as a cow. When asked why, he responded: “Moo.”
And, of course, there was money to be made for entrepreneurs. With a variety of vendors peddling their wares around campus, attendees showed up in T-shirts bearing slogans such as “Stone Age,” “Colorado Puffs,” “4:20” and “I (Bong) CO.”
Those who were selling such novelties, T-shirts, and souvenirs, however, had more to worry about in terms of police intervention than did those who were actually lighting up.
“The cops just targeted us and flocked around us,” said Katie Gustafson, co-founder of Denver-based Yeah No T-Shirts, after campus police wrote her a $250 ticket for selling the shirts without a tax license. “We tried telling them that we’re not selling weed, but they were like ‘What you’re doing is more serious than selling weed.’”
Source:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrXht1ywDcg[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXFT31ToHCM[/YOUTUBE]
Campus police estimate crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 at unofficial event
By Brittany Anas (Contact), Lance Vaillancourt (Contact)
Monday, April 20, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. — Balloon artist Mary Tester twisted together green marijuana leaves for people to wear as crowns during the annual 4/20 smokeout Monday on the University of Colorado’s campus.
Call her craft pot heads for the potheads.
Norlin Quad became the stage of a pot-smoker’s picnic as an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people packed on to the field to protest drug laws, play Hacky Sack to the tune of Bob Marley, and, in some cases, just stand back and take pictures with their camera phones.
At 4:20 p.m., a cloud of smoke hovered over the field, and the forecast above Norlin turned to foggy. The sound of drum beats, and coughing, echoed through the field.
“I think it’s awesome — especially when that cloud rises up over the crowd and you know that everyone is doing the same thing at the same time,” said Ryan Van Loo, who came from Arapahoe Community College in Littleton to attend the with a group of friends.
“Usually people are so low-key about smoking, but this is the one day of the year that everyone can come out in the open and do it together.”
No tickets were issued for marijuana possession at the event, CU police Cmdr. Tim McGraw said. He said authorities treated nine people for alcohol or drug overdoses, and police discouraged non-licensed vendors selling food and apparel.
Possessing small amounts of marijuana is a petty crime carrying a $100 fine. (Littering could be more expensive.)
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said the smoke-out is difficult to squelch because there are so many non-students who flood the campus. The unofficial event becomes like a concert, spectacle and drug-law protest, he said.
“It’s an event we don’t like,” he said. “We don’t sponsor it or support it. We inherit it.”
Still, the celebration went down smoothly, with little backlash from CU.
“It wouldn’t be a good idea to go in and confront a crowd this size,” Hilliard said.
University administrators, employees and students will meet in coming weeks to talk about ways to handle future 4/20 celebrations. Past strategies have included turning sprinklers on, barricading a campus field and taking photos of pot smokers, posting them online and offering cash rewards to identify the tokers caught on film.
This year, Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano sent an e-mail to students asking them to not participate because the event tarnishes the reputation of their school.
Troy Johnson, a junior political science major, agrees. He waded through the crowd of pot smokers with a poster that said: “Smoking marijuana makes you stupid.”
“Not everyone in Boulder smokes marijuana,” he said. “This is kind of embarrassing for our school.”
His friend Garrett Graff, a sophomore business major, held a sign that said marijuana is an illegal drug. Graff, who is from Jefferson County, said 4/20 should be a day to commemorate victims of the Columbine High School tragedy.
But protesters made their public pitch that cannabis is harmless and should be legal.
Aaron Rael, 34, of Longmont, who said he has a head injury, said marijuana is a natural painkiller and better than prescription drugs.
“It’s the best medicine out there,” he said after smoking with the masses at 4:20 p.m.
Jordan Martinez, 18, celebrated the cannabis culture with a puff of pot, too. He said marijuana should be legal.
“You can do everything with it,” he said. “Like build houses, save rain forests and make food.”
He pointed to the crowd, and noted how calm everybody was acting.
Participants, who began gathering hours before the smoke-out, threw Frisbees, blew bubbles and broke out in the occasional dance.
“We’ve just been sitting out in the sun, enjoying the weather and watching people,” said Kate Francisco, who traveled with a friend to CU from Rochester, N.Y., to attend CU’s 4/20 celebration.
“My brother goes to school here and we came out to Boulder to visit him while we’re on spring break — and we decided to come out for 4/20, too,” said Kyndle Caligris, Francisco’s friend.
In keeping with the counter-cultural spirit of the holiday, many students and attendees dressed to the nines for the occasion, adorning themselves in everything from weed-beaded Mardi Gras necklaces to tie-dye and other traditional hippie garb.
One man dressed as a cow. When asked why, he responded: “Moo.”
And, of course, there was money to be made for entrepreneurs. With a variety of vendors peddling their wares around campus, attendees showed up in T-shirts bearing slogans such as “Stone Age,” “Colorado Puffs,” “4:20” and “I (Bong) CO.”
Those who were selling such novelties, T-shirts, and souvenirs, however, had more to worry about in terms of police intervention than did those who were actually lighting up.
“The cops just targeted us and flocked around us,” said Katie Gustafson, co-founder of Denver-based Yeah No T-Shirts, after campus police wrote her a $250 ticket for selling the shirts without a tax license. “We tried telling them that we’re not selling weed, but they were like ‘What you’re doing is more serious than selling weed.’”
Source:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrXht1ywDcg[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXFT31ToHCM[/YOUTUBE]
