(4/20, 2008...University of Colorado Campus just BEFORE 4:20)

Living in a college town definitely has its advantages for a number of reasons.  One of them is that the University is always hosting various events…political, cultural, academic, and musical just to name a few.

Living in a college town and being surrounded by kids in their late teens and 20's keeps you in perpetual age denial. 

The University of Colorado, Boulder also has the unique distinction of being the reluctant home to the largest gathering of people IN THE WORLD who celebrate the many benefits and uses of marijuana on the infamous day of 4/20.

4/20 you ask?  Surely you jest.  You never heard of 4/20?  Perhaps the reason I know about 4/20 is a by-product of raising 4 children in Boulder, Colorado.  When I moved here 25 years ago, I thought a joint was a sleazy bar.

It still took me years to learn about 4/20 and who else better to learn about it from than from my oldest teenage son?  One day, one of my son’s friends made some kind of crack about 4/20.  My alert mother ears perked up when this reference to “4/20” was accompanied with bursts of laughter and guffaws from the pimply adolescent males.

“Brent, what are you guys laughing about?  What does 4/20 mean?”

That brought more fits of hysteria and boys clutching their stomachs as they bent over in laughter.  Now that I think of it, it really wasn’t THAT funny.

“Mom.  Let me explain it to you,” my oldest said in earnest.  He went on to tell me that he had read in a magazine, "High Times" that the term 4/20 originated in 1971 at San Rafael High School (California, duh) because of a group of about a dozen pot-smoking students.  The term was shorthand for the time of day the group would meet to partake in their daily ritual of lighting up.

“How could this be?”  I thought to myself.  After all, I graduated from Marin Catholic High School in 1972, a scant 10 minute drive to San Rafael High and I had never heard of this 4/20 stuff.

I’m such a late bloomer.  And wait a minute…why does MY SON know all about this?

After being informed of what this decadent and illegal gateway to eventual heroin addiction and death 4/20 meant, I proceeded to give my son and his friends the JUST SAY NO talk about drugs.  They all insist to this day that they do not remember this talk. 

Year after year I read about the Pot-Puffing Gathering at CU.  It was almost as famous as the annul Naked Pumpkin Run. 

Last year I decided to be open minded (it wasn’t the first time I assure you).  It was a beautiful April day and my husband and I rode our bikes down the Boulder Creek Path to the campus.  We met some other good friends and soon found ourselves smack in the middle of TEN THOUSAND people, people of all ages, but mostly college age…well really, we did kind of stick out like sore thumbs…like those college kids were looking at us very suspiciously, like we might be some kind of NARCs or undercover agents.

The years previously, the school had developed a bad rep among the students.  The sprinklers would be turned on in the fields the students were gathered in.  This may have dampened their ability to smoke, but not their spirits.  Things got uglier when the University offered to pay any student $50 if they could identify any of the depraved students with the smoke coming out of their silly grinned mouths.  The authorities had taken hundreds of pictures of the offenders.  And the jaw dropping fact…kids ratted on other kids.

Last year the school and local police decided to chill out and they adopted a mellow approach.  They were going to leave the crowd alone.

Last year, I stood in amazement looking at the crowd of over 10,000 people peacefully smashed together in one medium sized field, shoulder to shoulder, beach balls playfully flying about like the wafts of smoke that hovered protectively above the carefree crowd.

(4/20, 2008...University of Colorado, Boulder right AT 4:20)

There were no fights, no broken beer bottles.  There was no screaming, no anger, no rants, no riots.  There were no DUI’s, no black outs, no injuries. 

I took in the large crowd, a crowd that came off more as a huge family reunion with the exception being that everyone there actually seemed to like each other.

The anti-drug ad that screamed DOPE MAKES YOU A DOPE seemed suddenly silly to me.  Laughable in fact. 

Before that day, I never really knew what the expression “contact high” meant.

This year, the marijuana enthusiasts really got organized and the weekend was filled with workshops that brought in doctors, researchers and legal experts from all over the country to discuss the benefits of this organic yet persistently and illogically demonized plant. 

Today we will once again get on our bikes on a 65-degree April day and join the expected 10,000 celebrants, once again the largest group of people in the U.S. to assemble together to protest the many restrictive and punitive laws throughout the country and at the same time enjoy the benefits of a plant that’s gotten a bum rap from those ignorant, afraid and/or in bed with the pharmaceutical companies.

Living in Boulder has not only helped me stay in age denial, but now I’m afraid, it’s hippified me.

Peace out.

What Me Worry? 

 UPDATE:  PICTURES FROM 4/20/09

I just got back from from the annual event that has gained a reputation all over the world.  Here's more pictures (I hope you all like them because I sacrificed a lot to get them). 

 (Bode also known as Wet Painter.  He ran an unsuccessful bid for President of the United States, 2008.)

(4/20/09:  Norlin Field, CU campus right before 4:20)

(4/20/09:  Norlin Field, CU campus right after 4:20) 

(Aerial view of CU 4/20/09)

 UPDATE FOR 4/20/2010 

Due to the state wide legislation of medical marijuana, this large event is slated to be even larger this year, with an expectation of up to 15,000 people in attendance.

The weather should be mild, reaching a Mile high of 68 degrees and the hope of many is that the police will continue to allow this event peacefully and mellowly.  And why not?  No harm, no foul.