Cannabis is recognized as medicine by the state of California, 17 other states in the USA, Washington DC, and a growing number of people and governments all over the world. Cannabis is typically ingested through smoke or foods made with cannabis-infused cooking oil or butter.

Four Twenty in Porter Meadow at UCSC is an unorganized annual tradition. Last year, rain caused people to seek shelter under the forest canopy. This year, it was the hot sun which drove people to the shade provided by the trees.

Slacklining, a practice in balance where people walk along a thin flat cord tensioned between two trees, was a popular activity.

Petitioners were out collecting signatures for various ballot initiatives, including the California Cannabis Hemp & Health Initiative, which would legalize “cannabis hemp” for industrial, medicinal, nutritional and “euphoric” use.

At about 5:00pm, approximately 10 University of California police officers walked into the meadow to surveil the celebration. The officers spoke briefly with some people, and left 15 minutes later, without incident.

Although it is illegal under U.S. federal law, cannabis is legal, and recommended by doctors, in California.

Health educator Ron Marczyk explains, “The government’s public mantra has always been that marijuana is not a medicine in any form, as in Schedule I, which means (a) the drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse; (b) it has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States (Remember U.S. Patent 6,630,507 B1?); and (c) there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

In the 1990s, activists and doctors were energized by seeing marijuana help dying AIDS patients. A study of smoked marijuana at the University of California, San Francisco, under Dr. Donald Abrams was eventually approved by the federal government after five years. Dr. Abrams is excited about cannabis medicines and the potential effect that components of the marijuana plant may have against cancer cells.

Ron Marczyk points out contradictions in the U.S. government’s classification of cannabis. “While spending billions of dollars to promote its anti-drug meme, behind the scenes it was simultaneously trying to prove to the Patent Office that cannabinoids are powerful anti-oxidative medicines that fight oxidative stress diseases in everyone. One of the main causes of cancer is oxidative stress disease.

“So the crazy Catch 22 is that the U.S. government is now claiming cannabis is medicine, but is also saying it isn’t medicine and that it needs to be against the law.”

Photos from 420 in Previous Years at UC Santa Cruz

2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2011

The Campus Earth Summit has evolved over the years. The first Campus Earth Summit in 2002 was held inside a conference room. There was a sharing of updates and ideas from members of the Student Environmental Center about campus sustainability projects, followed by intermixed breakout groups of UCSC students, staff, faculty, administrators, and alumni. Originally, the Campus Earth Summit did not have workshops, entertainment or other student organizations doing outreach.

The Student Environmental Center’s first Campus Earth Festival, which I organized, was also in 2002. It featured keynote speakers including Mardi Wormhoudt, a campus string band, political Hip-Hop musicians from Los Angeles and Chicano rock-n-rollers from San Jose, as well as both on and off-campus organizations. It was also the first event held in the Quarry Amphitheater after being closed for several years, and aimed to bring students and community members together from all across campus and town.

The Student Environmental Center decided to hold the 11th Annual Campus Earth Summit on March 3rd after five “Blueprint Breakout Discussions”, each on a different day. The discussions were focused on 1) Transportation: Social & Environmental Justice on October 19, 2011; 2) Green Building: Land, Habitat, & Watershed on November 2, 2011; 3) Purchasing: Energy on November 16, 2011; 4) Waste Prevention: Water on January 25, 2012; and 5) Food Systems: Academics & Curriculum on February 15, 2012.

An announcement for the 11th Annual Campus Earth Summit at UCSC states, “The purpose of this event is to highlight efforts that will encourage the university to reach environmentally, socially, and economically responsible benchmarks. The event will feature skill workshops, student/staff opportunities and learning models for student involvement on the UCSC campus, as well as provide excellent educational tools for academic integration and those working alongside the student population to serve as an example of environmental activism.”

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This article, along with the following photos, were also published at Indybay.org.

Four Twenty (known to some as “amateurs’ day”) in Porter Meadow at UC Santa Cruz is an unorganized annual tradition.

Cannabis is a beneficial herb. Read More and View Photos

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“…marijuana is one of the safest, therapeutically active substances known to man.”
– Judge Francis Young (DEA)

“Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
- William F. Buckley Jr.

“The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.”
- Carl Sagan

Photos from 420 in Previous Years at UC Santa Cruz

2007, 2008, 2009, & 2010

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Pot-puffing peoples from cities in Canada, the United States, and other points across the globe came out in force to proclaim their love for the cannabis plant and show authorities it is time to end marijuana prohibition.

The annual Four Twenty celebration at UC Santa Cruz drew thousands of people to the Porter Meadow, where people made music, danced, played in costumes, chilled with friends, and of course, smoked copious amounts of marijuana in pipes, joints, blunts, bongs and bubblers. Read More and View Photos

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To start the day, students, faculty, and workers gathered at 5am at UC Santa Cruz to protest the privatization of public education in California. They used their bodies to block the streets at the intersections of High & Western, Hagar & Coolidge, and the west entrance of campus.

UCSC was shutdown throughout the day, with traffic prevented from going up to campus. As of 7am, hundreds of students, faculty and workers had gathered at all entrances to campus.

Thousands participated in the actions throughout the day, including rallies at the base of campus at 9am, noon, and a 5pm general assembly that decided to mobilize the protest to downtown Santa Cruz. Read More and View Photos

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The rally began with music by La Sangre. High School students, parents, teachers and union members spoke at the rally. A symposium was held in the Watsonville Cabrillo College Forum and featured John Silver, a filmmaker and video director for the New Teacher Project. Read More and View Photos

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A group of approximately 300 students entered the Kresge Town Hall at UCSC to create an organizing space around the budget cuts. Students at the entrances eventually joined the others in the Kresge Town Hall to plan further actions. Read More and View Photos

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Without a doubt, they danced to enjoy the present moment, but of greater importance, they were dancing together for a future. A future of liberation and mutual aid, rather than the systems and structures of exploitation rigorously ingrained in them through corrupt institutions. Read More and View Photos

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