Pubdate: Wed, 27 Aug 2014
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Copyright: 2014 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131
Author: David Downs

POT TO TROT

A Weird Side Effect of the California Drought - the World's First "420 Games."

A prominent sign at the recent High Times Medical Cannabis Cup in 
Santa Rosa read "Winners don't smoke weed, champions do." That 
sentiment - part of marijuana's ongoing acceptance by mainstream 
America - will take on added meaning on September 13 in Golden Gate 
Park with the first-ever 420 Games.

It will be your typical five-kilometer run-for-a-cause designed for 
1,000 entrants - except that the cause will be cannabis civil rights. 
Lagunitas Brewing Company will be throwing the after-party, with a 
performance by the all-female Led Zeppelin cover band Zepparella.

No, you won't have to smoke pot and then run 3.1 miles. This isn't 
some half-baked, unprofessional event. In fact, plenty of non-smoking 
supporters of the cause are signing up.

The event is being organized by Jim McAlpine, president and founder 
of SnowBomb.com, a major Bay Area snow sports ticketing and events 
company. He notes that, technically speaking, no smoking is allowed 
in Golden Gate Park.

McAlpine has all the necessary permits. And it was a strange twist of 
fate that led the leader of SnowBomb to organize a weed-positive 5K.

For years, SnowBomb has been the leading company for hooking up Bay 
Area skiers and riders with deals on lift tickets and equipment. The 
company organizes equipment sales each fall, and hosts mountain 
concerts during the snow season. Problem is, snow levels have been bombing.

Since California's extended drought began three years ago up, 
mountain snowpack has been nearly nonexistent. It peaked last season 
at 32 percent of its historical average in April. And no snow means 
no snow business.

McAlpine was up at his Tahoe cabin in May, planning SnowBomb's 
2014-2015 season, when he started to freak out. "It sucked, man," 
said McAlpine. "Last year was the worst year in the entire history of 
the company. That's the reason The 420 Games were born."

McAlpine uses cannabis medicinally for his bad back and knees. Like 
many patients, he said that certain strains of weed also help him 
focus. He was smoking a joint alone in his cabin at 10 o'clock one 
night when the idea of launching The 420 Games hit him. "It slapped 
me in the face," he said. "I thought, 'Oh, my god. This is it. I have 
to do this.'"

Cannabis is now more mainstream than ever. About 54 percent of 
Americans support ending pot prohibition, and more than 80 percent 
support medical access to cannabis. In July, The New York Times 
editorial page issued a historic call in July to end marijuana 
prohibition nationwide. Whoopi Goldberg regularly endorses 
legalization on The View. Even President Obama has admitted that weed 
is safer than alcohol.

But a deep stigma endures. For one, pot's federally illegal, and 
about 750,000 Americans will be arrested this year for marijuana 
offenses - mostly for possession. You can also lose your student 
housing and student aid, get kicked out of school, and be denied 
employment, adoption, and professional licensing because of marijuana.

It also might seem counterintuitive to throw a 5K run in support of a 
drug that critics claim causes laziness and apathy, until you 
remember that world-class athletes also love weed. The Pittsburg 
Steelers' starting and back-up running backs - Le'Veon Bell and 
LeGarrette Blount, respectively - were caught just last week with 20 
grams of herb.

And there are reasons why athletes like pot. Cannabis contains 
powerful anti-inflammatories and analgesics. It's been shown to help 
regulate metabolism, which is why stoners are, counterintuitively, 
skinnier than the average population. Smoking weed is not associated 
with lung cancer, but is associated with increased lung volume (ahem, 
Michael Phelps).

Used recreationally, it's a less harmful way for athletes to chill 
out than alcohol or cigarettes.

The first snowboarder to ever win a gold medal, Ross Rebagliati, had 
his medal taken away from him for testing positive for pot. The 
Olympics then had to give the gold medal back to Rebagliati because 
anti-doping rules at the time did not cover weed. Last year, the 
Olympics relaxed its anti-doping limits on THC metabolites by a factor of ten.

Which brings us to the 420 Games. "I stayed up the entire night 
writing the business plan," McAlpine said of The 420 Games. He tapped 
his deep connections in the worlds of skiing, snowboarding, running, 
tennis, and other athletics in the Bay Area to get the word out about 
the event. Lagunitas has released "420" beers in the past, and came 
on-board as a co-sponsor after a phone call, he said. The 420 Games 
has also nabbed deep-pocketed backers, including WeedMaps.com and 
Harborside Health Center in Oakland.

First came a website, then a press release and ground campaign. 
Sports stores have been really receptive to hanging posters, McAlpine 
said. "Most people grab the posters when I start talking to them and 
quickly look at it and don't see marijuana." (The event's motto is 
"Achieve. Support. Educate.") "Then there is that first second when 
they see marijuana, and they get tense and tense up and start to 
scrutinize it a bit more," McAlpine continued. "It takes about two or 
three minutes of talking for them to realize just what it is. Then, 
they're really, really supportive. It's amazing how many are. I've 
gone to tennis clubs and running stores in Marin. I've only had one 
person reject them."

The 420 Games is going to sell out, and McAlpine has bigger plans for 
the future. The 5K is part of a series, which is also going to 
include a Stand-Up Paddle Race on Lake Tahoe and a bike marathon in 
Orange County that will be limited to one-gear cruiser bikes. The 
series will conclude with a contingent of 420 Gamers running in the 
next San Francisco Half-Marathon.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom