CROWD IS SUBDUED AT ANNUAL "420" POT RALLIES

Police Abundant at Denver, Boulder Events Celebrating Marijuana.

Marijuana smoke floated above the crowds that gathered in Denver and
Boulder on Sunday to partake of the weed and protest laws against it.

At Civic Center park in Denver police patrolled the edge of a crowd
of more than 1,000, many of them passing joints, as hip-hop music
blared from a stage.

"The biggest concern of the city is just public safety," said Denver
police spokesman Sonny Jackson. "We are on the perimeter of the park
looking out for children and underage activity. . . . The crowd seems
to be relatively subdued."

A half-dozen horse-mounted officers, as well as cops on motorcycles
and foot, patrolled the edges of the crowd.

Holly G. Conrad, one of the organizers, told attendees to light up at
their own risk: "Watching the cops is not a bad thing." Conrad wore a
wreath of fake marijuana leaves around her neck.

The "420 rally" is an annual event throughout the country held April 20.

"It is a good form of protest," said Alex Lynch, 20, between tokes on
a dwindling joint.

Last year's rally at Civic Center in Denver resulted in 78 arrests.

This year, the rally began at noon, and by 4 p.m. only one person had
been arrested, Jackson said.

"I'm impressed, I ain't never seen no event like this," said Ted A.
Sharp Sr., 47, a Miami resident, who was attending one of the rallies
for the first time. "It is a fly event."

Although voters approved legal possession of small amounts of
marijuana in Denver in 2006, smoking still violates state law.

Voters last year approved an initiative making marijuana the city's
lowest law-enforcement priority.

Miguel Lopez, one of the event's organizers, said the 420 rally is
named for a statute of California's penal code that bars possession
of marijuana.

Lopez said he invited members of Denver city and county government to
attend the event but didn't expect any to come.

Organizers don't encourage people to get high in public and don't
want those younger than 18 to smoke pot, he added.

In Boulder, University of Colorado police estimated that 10,000
people gathered for the annual "smoke-up" on Norlin Quad on CU's campus.

In contrast to prior years when CU police attempted to discourage the
event, they were keeping it "low-key" this year, said Commander Brad
Wiesley, a spokesman.

"When you're outnumbered 1,000-to-1, or even 750-to-1, it's really
hard to have much say over what the crowd does," Wiesley said.

No arrests were made, and the crowd had dissipated by 5:15 p.m.

In addition to the smoke-up, CU's chapter of the National
Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws hosted a festival to add an
element of education to the day.

"We want people to see that we're activists and trying to change
things instead of just hiding and sitting on the couch and smoking,"
said event organizer Summer Weirich. Weirich is a CU junior from
Atlanta who helped to found the chapter a year ago.

"Education is good and all," said Dan, a University of Denver student
from Portland who wouldn't give his last name. "But today is pretty
recreational."