10,000 GATHER AT CU'S NORLIN QUAD FOR 4/20

Celebrated by many an avid pot smoker on the 20th day in April,
yesterday's counterculture holiday "4/20" was a big hit on the CU
campus as thousands gathered to the Norlin Library Quadrangle to celebrate.

Clear skies prevailed throughout the afternoon as observers of the
unofficial holiday began to congregate on the field, some as early as
noon. Fashion of the day included a broad array of T-shirts touting
pot references -- everything from "Half Baked" to "Rehab is for
Quitters" -- and enough people sporting the color green to rival St.
Patrick's Day.

"This is the best day ever," said Karen, a CU political science major
dressed up as a giant pot leaf. "This should happen every Sunday."

Activities picked up as the countdown to 4:20 p.m. went on. Hordes of
students and pot-friendly community members clustered together
throughout the field laying out blankets and tossing footballs and
Frisbees. The thumping of drum circles that peppered throughout the
area could be heard by passersby.

In some respects, the Boulder tradition was a commercial event.
Groups of people began passing around Mardi-Gras style beaded
pot-leaf necklaces in exchange for social contributions, and outdoor
vendors were even selling 4/20 memorabilia to the masses -- shirts
reading "Boulder 4/20" and "Colorado Puffs" -- as the day went on.
The event has even garnished enough of a reputation to attract
visitors from far outside of Boulder.

"We spent most of the day on Pearl Street before we headed out here,"
said Josh Ejtehadi, who traveled with his friend Ian all the way from
Colorado Springs to attend the event. "This is my second year out
here. I had heard that Jerry Garcia started it, so I knew it would be awesome."

By the time 4 p.m. rolled around, hundreds of the event's attendees
had already rolled up joints and filled glass pipes of all shapes and
sizes in anticipation of the most massive outdoor community smoking
session of the year. Attendance was so massive, in fact, that police
on duty at the event made no efforts to discourage it.

"If it was one guy smoking on Pearl Street and one police officer,
that's a one-to-one ratio," said Cmdr. Brad Wiesley, Public
Information Officer for the CU Police Department (CUPD). "When it's
10,000 people and 20 officers, that's a different story."

A news release from issued by the CUPD after the event stated that
approximately 15 officers and six Boulder County Sheriff's deputies
monitored the 420 activity that occurred on campus to support public
safety -- not to enforce the laws against it.

"Given the size of the crowd that appeared on a warm spring Sunday
afternoon, the focus of the police was to maintain a safe environment
and discourage potentially hazardous activities," the release stated.
"No citations were issued and no arrests were made."

Those in attendance did not need a watch to know the exact moment
that 4:20 p.m. had struck -- because if the sudden rush of intense
cheering throughout the field wasn't enough to clue them in, the
massive haze of smoke that soon lifted above the crowd sure did.
Festivities continued with more intensity, such as several drum
circle drummers climbing trees, for the next half-hour before the
crowd began to dissipate steadily by 5 p.m.

According to the CUPD summary, the event was conducted safely by
those in attendance with no problems that could be linked directly to
the use of marijuana.

"Four medical incidents were reported," the release stated, "with two
patients transported to the hospital by ambulance for treatment. The
medical calls were for issues such as dehydration and a seizure."