Pubdate: Sun, 20 Mar 2005
Source: Colorado Daily (UC Edu, CO)
Copyright: 2005 Colorado Daily
Contact:  http://www.coloradodaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1557
Author: Matt Williams, Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Cited: Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) 
http://saferchoice.org/
Cited: Boulder NORML http://www.normlforboulder.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

WILL CU'S 4/20 BE DEEP-SIXED

Put out that joint.

Police and CU administrators are discussing ways to crack down on pot
smokers at the University's annual informal celebration of marijuana
on CU's Farrand Field on April 20.

More officers could be sent to patrol the "4/20" festivities, or
undercover narcotics agents could be deployed. The CU-Boulder Police
Department could also work in partnership with the city of Boulder
Police Department and other drug enforcement units, said CU-Boulder
Police Department spokesman Lt. Tim McGraw.

McGraw said he would not discuss specific tactics in order to preserve
secrecy.

Many students think the police ignore pot smokers on April 20 as long
as they stay within the perimeter of Farrand Field.

That's a false assumption, McGraw said.

"The reality of it is that we've always had a police presence at these
events and they've been going on the last several years at Farrand
Field," McGraw said.

Typically, though, police have been greatly outnumbered by the
hundreds or thousands who attend, so it limits what police can do, he
said.

McGraw said the extent of drug use on April 20 is overblown.

"There's certainly an urban legend about thousands of people showing
up to smoke marijuana," he said. "The overwhelming majority of people
who show up for this don't smoke. That has been our observation."

The police have issued only a handful of summonses for marijuana use
each year at Farrand Field, McGraw said, in part because the law
limits the police department.

Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is only a petty offense
in Colorado, he said.

Ron Stump, vice chancellor of student affairs, met with city and
county officials last week, and he wants input from students on how to
curb the celebration, according to local media.

University officials are concerned about CU's image after allegations
resurfaced in a leaked grand jury report that the CU-Boulder athletics
department used sex, booze and drugs to entice football recruits.

The CU Board of Regents hired public relations specialist Christopher
Simpson in February to help the Regents deal with the leaked grand
jury report and the controversy surrounding ethnic studies Ward
Churchill, who compared some victims of the World Trade Center attacks
to Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

Simpson is also working with the CU system to draft a public relations
strategy that highlights the positive accomplishments of the University.

Jeff Christen-Mitchell, president of the Boulder chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said
CU is trying to stamp out the 4/20 celebration only for the sake of
public relations because administrators are "running scared."

He said if students choose to smoke pot at Farrand Field, it would be
an act of civil disobedience.

"This country is made out of people, historically, who will go against
the rules and go against the grain," Christen-Mitchell said. "To me,
there is nothing more American right now than asserting your rights
when they're taken away by a bureaucratic government."

Pot doesn't kill people, Christen-Mitchell said.

A Boulder non-profit called Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation
(SAFER) announced last week it was pursuing a student referendum
calling for the University to acknowledge marijuana as a comparatively
safer alternative to alcohol and that CU treat the drug as such when
giving out punishments to students.

If CU and the police decide to eliminate the Farrand Field celebration
altogether, pot enthusiasts can celebrate at an event sponsored by
NORML at the Boulder Band Shell, Christen-Mitchell said.

"We'll save them the embarrassment of having CU being a billboard for
marijuana smokers," he said. 
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