On April 20th of each year there is a huge gathering at Folsom Field on the University of Colorado campus. Perhaps you have heard about it. If you are a regular consumer of marijuana, most likely you have. It is called the “Smoke Out” and students from not only CU, but all over the country convene to smoke marijuana on the field.
Perhaps this is one of the contributing reason CU is known as a “party school.” In fact, Playboy Magazine ranked Colorado as the #1 party school in the country.
Mixed Message
This comes at a time when CU is trying to raise its image of not being a “party” school and has been making it mandatory for all incoming students to take an alcohol awareness class.
How can they allow thousands of kids to come to their campus to smoke marijuana and still try to clear up their image? Following are some astounding statistics in a post-April 20th brouhaha.
Most Outstanding Statistic - 24 percent of undergrad students sampled in CU-Boulder survey said they smoked pot at 4/20 event.
Other Findings
- 52 percent of respondents said the smoke-out is best described as a recreational or social gathering. Only 9 percent said they would characterize it as a political movement.
- 48 percent of students didn't participate in 4/20 on Norlin Quad in any way.
- 24 percent of students joined the crowd and either smoked pot or ate food-containing pot.
- 11 percent joined the crowd but didn't consume marijuana.
- 17 percent watched what was happening from outside the crowd.
- 65 percent said the smoke-out didn't affect their classes.
- 9 percent of students skipped class because of 4/20.
- 7 percent of students were late to class because of 4/20.
- 28 percent of students said the crowd made it difficult to get across campus.
- 50 percent of students mistook the 4/20 smoke-out as a "sponsored" event.
The source for all of this great information – the University of Colorado.