200 GATHER TO SMOKE MARIJUANA

People were toking and marijuana smoke hung in the
air.

It was a pot-smoking event called the Four-Twenty gathering.

More than 200 marijuana users and supporters of legalizing the
substance showed up at Roosevelt Park in Albuquerque on Thursday. The
4-20 code is used elsewhere by police as a code for a pot smoker,
attendees said.

The sweet and pungent odor of marijuana filled the park as toddlers
played and adults sat around chatting, drumming, rolling joints and
packing pipes.

"It's peaceful," said student Angel Candelado. "Do you see anyone
shooting heroin? It's peace-loving pot, baby."

Albuquerque police Sgt. Mark Garcia said there was no use in breaking
up the gathering "as long as they're mellow, having a good time."

He said breaking up such an event could result in violence.

"Is it worth starting a riot over?" Garcia asked.

Many tokers claimed the gathering has been an annual tradition in
Albuquerque for years. It grew by word-of-mouth. It was partly a
political stand for the legalization of marijuana, and partly an
excuse to light up in public without getting arrested or cited for the
misdemeanor.

When asked if there were any major problems at the rally, police
officer John Guilmette replied: "Besides a park full of people smoking
marijuana with their children?"

Generally, he said, he arrests people if he catches them smoking
marijuana in the park. But no arrests had been made Thursday after the
gathering had been under way for more than an hour, and Guilmette said
he hadn't handed out any citations. He said he had called the parents
of a couple of minors he caught smoking pot.

"We had their parents pick them up," Guilmette said.

Jacque Oldfield called the gathering "a family event."

"I'm trying to teach my kids how legislation gets changed at the
grass-roots level," she said.

Ian, a 22-year-old who refused to provide his last name, sat in a
circle of about 10 people. He said he is a regular pot smoker.

"Smoking a joint is not really a crime," he said between coughs and
puffs.

"We smoke when we drive, in parks, in bathrooms, at work. I hate to
admit it. It's all true," he said.

"Hippie" Jack Brashear referred to the Bible when asked about smoking
pot.

"The word of God gave us every herb," he said. "That makes it a sacred
right."