Photographs of the 4/20 Gathering at the Norlin Quad. -Alexandra Lehnert

4/20 at the University of Colorado has become a very big event.

4/20 is one time of year when the students come together.

Not only were there students and dogs, but this snake also was a part of the 4/20 gathering.

The giant crowd of students celebrate together.

Derek Kessinger's Interviews

A plane flies overhead with a banner reading,

"Happy 420- Color the World- Buy 1 Get 1 420"

Color the world is a local Boulder Head shop

A man holds a shotgun over his head in the 420 Crowd

Above is an interview with Gideon who came out to watch 420 but not participate.

This is an Interview with 420 Participant who wished to be left nameless: Did you enjoy your experience on 420, what did it entail?

Yes, Being high all day!

What was the most interesting sight?

Babies on Norlin Quad.

Was the day everything you’d hoped it would be?

In my state of mind yes.

What did you think about people traveling from other states?

I think it’s a great example of why people should smoke together and why pot should be legal. Where else do you see thousands of people coming together. Do you see 10,000 people coming together to support other illegal acts?

Are you excited for next year?

I don’t know man, it’s too far away

Both of my interviews were done right after 420 on the Norlin Quad. People were pretty ready to give an opinion and the interview questions were pretty straightforward.

Just Smoking Bro (Josh's Interviews)

Interview #1: Derrick

Josh: What are you doing for 4/20?

Derrick: Going to my girlfriend's house and smoking out of her volcano, then smoking joints all day.

Josh: What type of Weed?

Derrick: Probably reggie.

Interview #2: Scott

Josh: What are you doing for 4/20?

Scott: Hitting the gravity bong and getting ripped. Then smoking joints.

Josh:What was last year's 4/20 like?

Scott: I just went to the Quad freaked out cause it was crowded and I was blazed.

Alexandra Lehnert's Interviews

Before the event I interviewed freshman Lauren, 18. Here is our interview.

Me: What do you think of 420?
Lauren: I think that 420 is not that big of a deal. It is just a way for people with similar interests to get together and share some common ground.
Me: How do you feel about the school closing campus for the buses and making this an event with parking staff and such?
Lauren: I don’t have anything against 420 but they shouldn’t have closed campus because that affects the rest of the people that choose not to participate in the event. I also feel that it is good that the school sent out an email stating that there can only be smoking on the Norlin Quad. They know that they can’t do anything about the smoking so they are trying to contain it. Which I think is good.
Me: Do you know of any other schools that celebrate 420 like CU?
Lauren: No I don’t really know of any other schools. I know it originated in California, but I don’t know how they celebrate it down there. I know a lot of people who make the trip to Boulder from all over. For example, Ft. Collins, Grand Junction and Greeley.
Me: Thank you for you time. Enjoy your 4-20!

After 4-20 had happened and the field cleared out I got the opportunity to interview Richard, 19 to ask him what he thought.

Me: Was that experience what you had expected?
Richard: Yeah. It was crazy! I definitely didn’t expect that many people. I got to Norlin around 3 o’clock, and there were quite a few people, but around four the field was packed. I didn’t realize how far back it went.
Me: Was it better or worse than you had expected?
Richard: Definitely better. I didn’t know how crazy it would be, and it surpassed what I thought it would be like. People go crazy here. I knew that it was a big deal here, but I wasn’t sure how big.
Me: What did you think about the email the school sent out outlining the rules for the “420 Gathering?”
Richard: I mean I guess they are realize that it is going to happen anyway, so it is good that they made an effort to contain it. I heard that people were going to celebrate away from Norlin, and I think it is good that the school got it where they could control it. And also watch it all go down, and keep it under their eyes.
Me: Well thank you for you time. I hope you had a good time.

Brigid Igoe's Interviews

Interview #1 Lynda
Me: Why did you attend 4/20?
Lynda: I attended 4/20 because I had heard so much about it and it sounded like something I didn't want to miss. Also, most of my friends were going.
Me: What did you think of the event?
Lynda: I had seen pictures before but I never could have expected the crowd that showed up. It was crazy. I expected smoke everywhere and there was.
Me: What were your reactions to the event?
Lynda: I was impressed. There were so many students and people from out of town that it made it fun to be with so many people.

Me: Do you think it's a good thing for the school? Why or why not?
Lynda: I don't think it's a good thing for the school. I think that 4/20 should be practiced off of campus and away from school but I don't know how it would be stopped. The school gets a bad reputation for having a lot of pot smokers, and this is one of the main reasons why.
Me: Will you participate next year?
Lynda: I will probably participate next year, but maybe just do my own thing with some friends instead of going out to Norlin.

Me:Do you think that pot should be legalized? And do you think that 4/20 is an effective protest?
Lynda: I think that pot should be legalized. It is not harmful and if so many people do it, then why not? 4/20 is very effective in legalizing pot because there was nothing the cops could do about it yesterday and it shows them that nothing bad happens from smoking pot, we're just trying to have some fun.



Interview #2 Ariana
Me: Why did you not attend 4/20?
Ariana: I did not attend 4/20 for many reasons. One, I had missed my class 3 times this semester and have a meeting with that teacher today to renew my scholarship. Also, I don’t feel that going is that important and I really don’t get the hype.

Me: Do you think you made the right choice?
Ariana: I don’t regret not attending in any way shape or form.

Me: Will you participate next year?
Ariana: I probably wouldn’t go next year. If I want to smoke I can smoke when I want to. I’m not into it enough to do it at a certain time of day or during a specific day.

Me: Do you think 4/20 is an effective protest?
Ariana: I do think it’s a peaceful protest and proves to higher officials that people can get together to have a good time without endangering themselves or others.

Me: Do you think the school does the right thing 4/20?
Ariana:I think that the school provides a great safe environment, however I think if they are going to complain about 4/20 then they should take more action to change it rather than just going on the news to say that they don’t support it.

Kaiti Jolly's Interviews

Interview #1: Kelly Hogan
CU Graduate (Business Major)

• What do you think about CU threatening to step up enforcement this year and ticket people going to or leaving the quad?
• In your opinion, is 4/20 a “political/social statement” or is it just a free ticket to smoke in public with little chance of getting in trouble?
• Do you know the origins of the term “4/20”?
• Do you think the events that take place on 4/20 “devalue your degree or the reputation of CU”?
• Your plans for 4/20?
• What do you think about CU’s current penalties for being caught with marijuana (misdemeanor—the same as a minor being caught with alcohol)?

Interview #2: Alonso Nieto
CU Freshman (Business Major)

• What do you think about CU threatening to step up enforcement this year and ticket people going to or leaving the quad?I don’t like that. It won’t stop people, so I don’t see the point in it—there’s like 35,000 kids on campus, so I don’t think it will do much for preventing 4/20.
  
• In your opinion, is 4/20 a “political/social statement” or is it just a free ticket to smoke in public with little chance of getting in trouble? Just a free ticket to smoke in public with little chance of getting in trouble…I think the majority are just going out there to smoke, but some are actually looking at the bigger picture and looking at the political statement. Most people probably aren’t thinking about the bigger picture, they’re just thinking hey look, it’s 420, let’s get high…I’d say about 70% just do it to get high.
• Do you know the origins of the term “4/20”? No.
• Do you think the events that take place on 4/20 “devalue your degree or the reputation of CU”? No, because it’s only one day out of the whole year and it doesn’t have anything to do with the education we’re getting—maybe the kids participate in it, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the institution giving out our degree.
• Your plans for 4/20? I don’t know yet. I have to work and go to classes, I wanna go to the quad, I don’t know if I wanna participate in the “activities” or not.
• What do you think about CU’s current penalties for being caught with marijuana (misdemeanor—the same as a minor being caught with alcohol)? I think there should be more punishment since it’s an illegal drug. Alcohol is legal if you’re over the age of 21, but marijuana is never legal unless you have a card.

Both of my sources were CU students. Kelly Hogan will be graduating this May and has attended three other 4/20 gatherings at the University of Colorado. Alonso Nieto is a Freshman this year in the Business School; if he chose to to attend this year's 4/20, it would be his first. I chose these sources because of their age gap as well as their differing experiences with 4/20 at CU. My sources also seemed to have different opinions regarding 4/20 and its history at the University.
My methods for interviewing were both a little different; the interview with Kelly was done over Skype and the audio was recorded, and the interview with Alonso was very basic and I just wrote down his answers.
I thought the interviews went very well, both had very interesting opinions, particularly on the question regarding the value of their degree and the reputation of the University in regards to 4/20.
If I had the interview to do over again, I might just write Kelly's down as well instead of using the multimedia, because uploading the audio turned out to be a real problem, but besides that, I enjoyed both of the interviews and their turn outs.

History of 4/20 at the University of Colorado

Every year, thousands come together in the middle of CU's campus to celebrate 4/20, a counterculture holiday in which public consumption of weed is overlooked by law enforcement officials for the most part. 4/20 originated in California in 1971. It began from a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California in 1971. The teens would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana outside the school at a statue of Louis Pasteur. Each of the teens had practices for sports and when they were finished with that they would all meet each other at the statue and light up at 4:20 p.m. The group named themselves the Waldos because they would meet everyday by a wall. When they met they would look for an abandoned stash of marijuana that the group had heard was hidden a near Point Reyes.⁴ Though they never found it, they had smoked plenty during their meetings. The Waldos never knew that they would create a national holiday out of they daily meetings. CU has the largest crowds for this event in the United States, and Canada's Vancouver Art Gallery has about the same turn out. The event has the reputation of a political movement working towards the legalization of marijuana.

• In the 1990’s the first flyers were hung up inviting students to smoke in Farrand Field.³
• It didn’t get really big until 2002 when several hundred demonstrators came.³
• In an effort to stop 4/20, in 2005, the school closed down Farrand Field, but people still came; when the students came, the police turned on the sprinklers resulting in millions of dollars in damage to the filed.³
• An estimated 3,000 people came to Norlin Quad in 2007 and in 2008 an estimated 10,000 people came.³
• In 2003, when the events of 420 first began to take off in Boulder, 5 cops were outnumbered by approximately 800 people and made no arrests, they only confiscated drug paraphernalia¹
• The event was moved from Farrand Field to Norlin Quad due to the amount of people who were coming.³
• 2004 was the first year police openly admitted they were not enforcing marijuana laws on this day because it was “impractical…with such a large gathering…we don’t want to create a larger issue than the one we’re presented with…”(Lt. McGraw)¹
• In previous years (as recently as 2006) Police have taken pictures of students smoking on Norlin Quad, posted them on the Internet, and offered money for anyone willing to identify the students²
• In 2007, six students were ticketed (out of about 3,000)¹
• "Given the number of people here," said Police Commander Tim McGraw "discretion is the better part of valor."³

¹"A Short History of 4/20 in Boulder." Colorado Puffs 2005-2010: n. pag. Web. 19 Apr 2010.
²Black, Gary. "The History of 4/20 at CU." Cannabis News 20 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Web. 19 Apr 2010.
³Vittert, Leland. "Police Stand by as Pot Smokers Light Up at CU." FOX 31, KDVR.COM 20 Apr. 2009: n. pag. Web. 19 Apr 2010.
⁴Huffington Post "420 Meaning: The True Story of How April 20 Became "Weed Day"" April 20, 2010