Pot Smokers Fill Civic Center Park For 4/20 Rally
DENVER (CBS4)- Pot smokers gathered in Civic Center Park for the 4/20 rally on Wednesday for the annual marijuana celebration.
Each year people gather at the park and consume cannabis. The haze in the park typically peaks at 4:20 p.m. but this year the haze started early.
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Police officers were on standby to make sure no one got out of hand. According to Colorado law, consuming marijuana in public is illegal but on April 20, police allow the public consumption in the park as long as the crowd stays under control.
PHOTO GALLERY: 4/20 Rally In Civic Center Park
The annual 4/20 festival that was supposed to take place last weekend in the park but was canceled because of the snow storm.
Also in attendance at Wednesday's rally were representatives from the Colorado Department of Transportation "in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of driving high," according to CDOT.
CDOT staged what they called a "Slow-Speed Chase" with two cars outfitted with safety messages.
"Legal marijuana is relatively new to Colorado, and not everyone understands the dangers behind driving high," Sam Cole, Safety Communications Manager at CDOT, said in a statement. "According to our surveys, those who drove within two hours of consuming marijuana did so on seven of the past 30 days. That presents a danger not only to themselves, but also other road users."
Additional Information From CDOT
CDOT created the Drive High, Get a DUI campaign to inform drivers about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana, with the goal of reducing the number of drug-related DUIs, traffic crashes and fatalities. For more information on marijuana impaired driving, visit DriveHighDUI.com.