BOULDER TEENS OFFER MARIJUANA-FREE 4/20 ALTERNATIVE

Natural Highs Event Slated for Tuesday Afternoon

Tess Eckert will celebrate 4/20 on Tuesday - but without lighting up.

The 17-year-old senior at New Vista High School is helping put
together an alternative event for local teens looking to experience
the annual April 20 pot celebration, but without drugs. The free,
alternative event includes massage, music, food, a philosophy
circle, yerba mate bar, acupuncture and dance.

"It's something fun for people to do," Tess said Sunday. "People can
have a sense of community that doesn't involve a substance and do it
in a healthier manner."

She's part of the Natural Highs Action Group, a club with about 25
students from area high schools that's a spin-off of the "Natural
Highs" class offered through the After Hour Arts program at
September High School.

The group is in its third year of providing an alternative to the
traditional 4/20 smokeout at the University of Colorado, which last
year drew roughly 10,000 people to Norlin Quad. The event is
expected to be even bigger this year, thanks to the boom in
medical marijuana dispensaries in Boulder.

Avani Dilger, a Naropa faculty member and counselor who stared the
"Natural Highs" classes, said students told her they really
struggled to stay sober on 4/20.

"We wanted the kids to feel like they were part of something," she said.

Dakota Hindman, an 18-year-old senior at New Vista, said she
attended the CU event several years ago with friends.

"There's a huge expectation to go," she said.

But, she said, she found the appeal didn't have the much to do with
smoking pot.

"It was more about the sense of community and doing something with
my friends that wasn't sitting at a coffee shop," she said.

After taking a "Natural Highs" workshop, she said, she learned about
brain chemistry and different ways to explore altered states of
consciousness. In turn, she got involved with planning this year's
alternative 4/20 event.

"It's a safe place to be sober," she said. "They're not going to be
made fun of for being different than the crowd."

If you go

What: Natural Highs Alternative 4/20 Event

When: 3:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: September High School, 1902 Walnut St., Boulder

Information: naturalhighs.us