Pubdate: Sun, 19 Apr 2009
Source: Colorado Daily (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2009 New Colorado Daily, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.coloradodaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1557
Author: Lance Vaillancourt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

CU STUDENTS, BOULDER RESIDENTS TALK POT AT NATIONAL  FORUM ON MARIJUANA

Campus Hosts Inaugural Event On Eve Of Monday's 4/20 Smoke-Out

BOULDER, Colo. -- On the eve of the University of Colorado's 
notorious 4/20 marijuana celebration, hundreds of students and 
community members converged on the Boulder campus Sunday to talk 
about -- rather than smoke -- pot.

Hosted by CU's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of 
Marijuana Laws, the inaugural National Forum on Marijuana -- which 
opened Saturday night and continued all day Sunday -- featured 
discussions on decriminalization, medical marijuana, hemp and other 
related topics.

"This day went above and beyond my expectations," said CU junior Alex 
Douglas, executive director of  "It was a fantastic turnout, 
and a wonderful open discussion on current marijuana issues.

"Every single person that has come to even one of the panels has left 
more educated, more informed and more empowered on entire subject of 
marijuana."

The forum preceded Monday's traditional 4/20 campus smoke-out, held 
each year on April 20 in honor of the so-called International 
Cannabis Day. That event, unlike Sunday's forum, is not sanctioned by 
CU, yet is expected to draw thousands of pot enthusiasts to the 
Norlin Quadrangle at 4:20 p.m.

Organizers of the National Forum on Marijuana said they tried to 
provide attendees with a balanced and thoughtful perspective on the 
most current issues regarding the use and legality of marijuana 
within American society.

"This is a conversation that needs to be had," said CU junior Julie 
Black, who decided to attend the forum after seeing advertisements 
posted around campus. "The speakers are all very educated about the 
subjects, and they aren't biased about presenting the other sides of 
the issues."

Black added, however, that she would have liked to have seen a 
stronger showing from the anti-drug movement, both on the panels and 
in the audience.

But according to organizers, a number of speakers representing 
organizations such as the Denver chapter of the Partnership for a 
Drug Free America backed away from attending just days prior to the event.

Nevertheless, the few anti-drug advocates who did participate -- 
including Cmdr. Tom Sloan of the Boulder County Drug Task Force -- 
said that they appreciated the effort to maintain a balanced approach 
to the subject.

"I was definitely in the minority," Sloan said. "But it was a very 
civil discussion about a subject that is very serious to a lot of 
these people, and there was definitely an effort to be balanced."

While anti-drug advocates such as Sloan may have been harder to pin 
down, the forum managed to produce some of the most influential 
pro-pot activists in the movement today, including Allen St. Pierre, 
the executive director of NORML, and Steve Bloom, the founding editor 
of High Times magazine and creator of CelebStoner.com.

Bloom, in fact, often is credited with popularizing the concept of 
4/20 while working with High Times in the late '80 -- before it 
quickly became etched into the worldwide pothead vernacular.

"I look at Boulder as the ground zero for the 4/20 movement," said 
Bloom, who attended last year's Norlin Quad smoke-out along with more 
than 10,000 other people. "It's really the focal point for where it's 
blowing up, and I love the collective energy of all of the people."

St. Pierre said the annual April 20 celebrations have become such a 
successful organic phenomenon throughout the country that NORML has 
decided to use the day to launch its latest project.

"Tomorrow, the first-ever national ad campaign begins on TV in favor 
of marijuana law reform," St. Pierre announced at the end of Sunday's 
first panel. "We chose to launch it on 4/20 to take advantage of the 
national cultural zeitgeist that takes place on this day."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom