4/20
By diana on Apr 20, 2010 | In capricious bloviations
uc - boulder
Going to class today seems so...wrong, somehow. It'll be like trying to memorize Latin verbs on Bourbon street during Mardi Gras.
Boulder, for those of you who don't know, has a certain reputation as a pot-friendly community. Today is weed's national holiday, and 4:20 is the time to light up. These aren't my rules. I'm just reporting.
At 2:30, I walked across campus to fetch a Gatorade (I biked in today), and the steady stream of people coming onto campus from all angles and the glut of people in the commons was mind-boggling. And they're still coming. They bring blankets, and food (of course), drinks, frisbees, hacky sacks, hoola hoops, drums, paint, and guitars. They gather on the main quad and mingle. It's a happy, laid back, easy-going party.
The place is crawling with policemen and security personnel. I walked up to one and said, "So what's the deal? Are y'all waiting until 4:20 so you can start handing out tickets?"
BIG POLICE DUDE WITH INTIMIDATING MIRROR SHADES: We're handing out tickets now. We don't after 4:20.
ME: What's the point?
HIM: It's illegal.
ME: And it isn't after 4:20?
HIM: At that point, it's 5000 to 50.
I'm sure I looked at him like he was stupid, because that's what I was certainly thinking. I mean, when 20 people are speeding, that doesn't stop the cop from pulling over at least one of them, outnumbered or not.
ME, looking around: It just looks like a monumental expenditure of manpower to not issue tickets.
HIM: After 4:20, we're just here to ensure everyone's safety.
I see. They're there to ensure the entire group is protected from one of the safest drugs known to mankind. He really was an idiot.
I ran into Allison (fellow master's student) after that and we strolled through the crowd a bit. Honestly, it's like Woodstock out there. We stopped next to a guy wearing a neon D.A.R.E.* shirt to watch the drummers and dancers. He heard us talking about this being our first 4/20 experience here. He said five years ago, there were about 3000 people. Now, something like 10,000 people come onto campus for the event every year.
* Drugs Are Really Exciting?
I believe it. This year, we expect 15,000, I'm told. There's a plane flying loops around the quad with a banner that reads: "HAPPY 420! COLOR THE WORLD - BUY 1 GET 1 4/20." Every time it comes around, the mass of people scream.
Sadly, my class begins at 3:45, which means I will miss The Moment the whole campus lights up, while the glut of cops and campus security personnel stand there and watch. Something tells me that'll be something to see.
Amusingly, my teacher for the evening is the only one who acknowledges that the mid-class break may be used to smoke (cigarettes, of course). I'm thinking of suggesting a smoke break at 4:20, just for kicks and giggles.
d
3 comments
They’re there to ensure the entire group is protected from one of the safest drugs known to mankind.
Diana,
Maybe pot is safe as drugs go, but people can be stupid even without chemical enhancement. I’m sorry, but I don’t see a problem with having safety services present for a crowd that large.
I’ll grant that the ticketing rules are lopsided, but maybe it’s a compromise between collecting some ticket revenue and paying for a beat-up cop’s medical treatment.
Your example with speeders isn’t an exact analogy - the nineteen that got away aren’t standing around watching the cop write up the 20th.
Dave
Hi, Dave. :)
Uncontested medical fact about marijuana: it doesn’t provoke violence. Quite the opposite. There is no risk of cops being beaten up.
And I think the analogy is good, still. If the other potheads see someone else getting a ticket and decide to stick around, all the cop has to do is work his way down the line.
I wouldn’t have a problem with safety services, provided they made some sort of sense. Maybe some ambulances standing by or something? When you get a huge crowd drinking alcohol, it makes sense to keep cops around to break up fights. But a huge crowd with no alcohol but lots of pot? No fights.
I really don’t know what sort of safety they’re trying to ensure, frankly.
d
d -
It’s Security Theater. Or Theatre, if we’re trying to sound erudite.
The cops are there to give the appearance of doing something, whether or not it’s helpful. This is not unlike making you dump out a fresh bottle of water before you hit the TSA checkpoint at the airport.
If an incident does occur, they can intervene. If nothing happens, then whoever keeps stats on such things can claim that the presence of the cops kept the rowdy behavior to a minimum.
Sometimes it’s best to just shake your head and move on.
Jay
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