4/20 event a ‘big hit’ with the kids By Jeremy Johnson jjohn308@mscd.edu Photo by Leah Bluntschli • bluntsch@mscd.edu Steve (last name not given) of Denver lies on the grass with his friends in Civic Center Park in Denver on Thursday, April 20, during the 4/20 demonstration.

   According to self-proclaimed activist and medical marijuana grower Ken Gorman, an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people smoked out Civic Center Park April 20 in a rally to support the legalization of marijuana.

   Gorman, 59, said the rally—which consisted of a large number of high school students and homeless persons—was the largest turnout he had seen since he began organizing marijuana rallies in 1993.

   “ 4/20 is a time to go out and celebrate our religious heritage of marijuana,” Gorman said.

   “It was the most beautiful rally and the most people we’ve ever had.”

   But not everybody saw the rally as “beautiful.”
   “ I think the numbers say something,” freelance journalist Josiah Hesse said of the rally. But Hesse sighted a lack of an “eloquent voice of people supporting the legalization of marijuana.”

   “ 4/20 isn’t so much about the legalization of marijuana or any kind of political movement; it’s more just the outlaw culture wanting to break the law in public,” he said.

   Marijuana legalization has been a hot-bed issue in Colorado for some time, but has been even more in the limelight with the passing of House Resolution I-100, which allows adults 21 years or older in Denver to legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana.

   Critics of the bill point out that marijuana remains illegal under state law despite I-100.

   “ We have control of the state,” Gorman said. “All we need to do is band together as marijuana users and people that understand what marijuana is all about.”

   Police surrounded Civic Center Park for the rally but made no known marijuana arrests. There was, however, at least one arrest for assault.

   “ When you have a large number of people coming together like this you just want to watch out and make sure people stay safe,” Denver Police Lt. Ted Block said.

   “ The police actually told me that they wouldn’t have been there had it not been for the fact that in the very beginning there was a fight and at the end there was a fight,” Gorman said. “And you’ll find that most of the fights involved alcohol. They had nothing to do with marijuana.”

   Although Gorman said he thinks it is unfair to compare alcohol use to marijuana use, the comparison of the two has been a springboard for marijuana advocates such as Mason Tvert, who fought heavily for H.R. I-100. Tvert is the executive director of the Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation organization.

   SAFER’s Web site claims “marijuana is a safer recreational drug than alcohol.”

   Gorman said the reason police have allowed the rallies and the public consumption of marijuana to go on is largely due to an arrest during his third rally, which he claimed caused a riot.

   Gorman has had several run-ins with the law. According to Denver court records, He has been previously arrested on other charges ranging from possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, trespassing, drinking in public and driving without insurance.

   According to the Web site Cannabis News, Gorman was arrested in 1995 for possession of nearly 300 pounds of what he called medical marijuana.

   Gorman admitted to being arrested in 1996 for distribution of marijuana and said he served almost eight years in jail, in halfway houses, under house arrest and on parole. He supports medical marijuana and said he uses it for his chronic back pain and migraine headaches. Gorman also blamed politicians and oil corporations for marijuana’s illegality.

   “ Once you understand why (marijuana) is illegal then you’ll understand the corruption that’s involved with keeping it illegal,” he said.

   “ That’s all it is. It’s absolute greed and corruption. We wouldn’t even be using petroleum now had it not been for making marijuana illegal and it’s petroleum that made it illegal in 1937.”

   Gorman also blamed the government’s “war on drugs” for marijuana’s bad reputation, saying pot is more accessible to underage people because the government does not monitor the drug. Gorman argues that legalization will keep dealers off the street and make marijuana less accessible to underage users.
   “ Until they stop putting dealers on the street, it’s their fault,” Gorman said.

   April 20, or 4/20, serves as a sort of religious holiday for marijuana users. The term “420,” always pronounced “four-twenty,” has been rumored to mean a number of different things including the official police code for a marijuana arrest.

   Gorman said the police code rumor is false and that the phrase most likely began in high schools as a time after class to meet up and smoke.

   According to Snopes.com, an urban legends reference Web site, 420 began to be used as slang in 1971 among a group of students at San Rafael High School in California who used the term to remind them of the time they planned to meet to consume marijuana, 4:20 p.m.

   Gorman said he lives by the motto: “Keep on smoking them joints.”