Katie Rucke
On Saturday, April 20, Denver will play host to what is pegged to be one of the largest marijuana celebrations in the world.
April 20, often referred to as “4/20,” is a date and time marijuana users often rally together and make a political statement that marijuana should be legalized. Often dismissed as “pot-infused parties,” much of the general public has distanced itself from these rallies, until now.
Since marijuana was legalized for recreational use in Colorado about five months ago, Denver 4/20 Rally organizer Miguel Lopez says he expects this year’s celebration to be the largest in the world. But attendees looking to solely light up should be warned this year’s event will be heavy on politics surrounding marijuana legalization.
In recent years, the Denver 420 Rally has been the nation’s largest rally fighting to end global marijuana prohibition and celebrate marijuana culture.
As Lopez wrote in a press release, since marijuana was legalized for recreational use in Colorado this past November with Amendment 64, the people have a say in how marijuana is policed — not just special interest groups.
“It is time to be a pro-activist instead of re-activists and not stand idly by while the Governor’s Task Force attempts to thwart the will of the people because it is an amendment to the constitution and once in place, the regulations will be expensive and time consuming to change.
“The task force is comprised of people who are lawyers, politicians, medical marijuana business owners and even a person who specializes in marijuana addiction. Where are the people that the law was written for? When was the last time your opinion was sought on regulations impacting Amendment 64?”
Lopez continued by saying that prohibition is not over. “There are people whose imaginations are full of fear of what legalized marijuana will do to the community, never mind that people have been using marijuana medically in over 18 states without much incident. Amendment 64 is bringing out the chicken hawks of prohibition, ironically one being Governor Hickenlooper himself, a man whose fortunes were made in alcohol, a substance that causes deaths daily.
“According to Hickenlooper in speaking about marijuana legalization, ‘I’m not saying the sky is falling and we’re going to have thousands of homeless teenagers we didn’t have before, but we will have more.’ Sounds like a case of reefer madness. This is his task force and the marijuana community and Colorado voters need to express their voices in numbers to ensure their voters aren’t undermined.”
Specifically, Lopez expressed concern about the proposed regulations to police marijuana legalization, saying that marijuana would almost be as prohibitive as it was before legalization.
“Regulations that stifle growth and innovation keep other people from becoming marijuana entrepreneurs so that the current marijuana business owners can keep a monopoly on the industry. Tax regulations and regulations limiting the amount of marijuana that can be purchased at a time and where it can be purchased are regulations that voters need to express their opinions and concerns about to make sure the will of the voter is not circumvented.”
In addition to releasing a schedule of performers and speakers that will be at the 4/20 Rally in Denver this weekend, Lopez also included 10 regulations that he believes over-regulate marijuana and will lead to another fight for “marijuana freedom.”