NO SMOKING ZONE

Police Forestall Annual '4-20' Pot-Puffing Event By Closing Roosevelt
Park To All

Two officers on a hilltop surveyed Roosevelt Park with binoculars as five
horse-mounted police patrolled its boundaries.

Patrol cars lined the park's east and west borders and a mobile command van
was parked nearby. Streets were blocked with orange cones.

A presidential visit wasn't the reason for the extraordinary police
presence at this quiet Southeast Heights neighborhood park Tuesday.

It was the annual April 20 "4-20" observation, when pot proponents around
the world gather to smoke cannabis and call for its legalization.

The number 4-20 is thought to be police code to identify marijuana smokers.
Roosevelt Park has become known as the designated gathering place in
Albuquerque for the "4-20" event.

For the second year in a row, Albuquerque police decided to shut the park
down for the day.

"It's not in the best interest of public safety to have a designated area
for an open display of breaking the law," Albuquerque police Lt. Larry
Sonntag said.

In past years, the event has drawn more than 400 people and trouble for the
neighborhood along Coal Avenue, Sonntag said.

But at the witching hour of 4:20 p.m., there were only four University of
New Mexico students stationed across the street from the park. One held a
cardboard sign decorated with a marijuana leaf and the word, "Freedom."

A few passing motorists honked their horns.

"It's a good day to rob a bank; all the cops are here at the park worried
somebody might smoke some weed," said Ben Tucker, 25, a UNM student who
said marijuana should be legalized.

Some neighbors of the park weren't happy about it being closed either, but
for different reasons.

"I'd like to cross the street and have lunch under the trees. If they want
to prevent people from smoking pot, they can have a police presence. But
this is ridiculous," said Cora Kammer, 25, an Albuquerque Technical
Vocational Institute student who lives across the street from the park.

"They don't need to keep citizens from enjoying a public park."

Sonntag said he was happy there were no incidents to report.

"It's a nice day; it's a nice breeze," he noted.