Through a cloud of smoke emerges a rainbow road to a Pot of Gold on a sunny, sunny April 20.
Students at California State University, Long Beach say 4/20, a weed-culture holiday, blows up expectations.
“A real stoner smokes everyday,” Carlos Martinez, a sophomore mechanical engineering student, said. “They don’t have to worry about 4/20.”
Martinez said he is hopeful that the legalization of recreational consumption of marijuana is just a stone’s throw away for California. He also said that marijuana is not only good for the state, but the country as well. According to the Huffington Post, a 2010 study from Cato showed legalizing marijuana would generate nearly $9 million annually.
“Based on an economical standpoint, I think that it could have benefits in various areas and I also don’t see any detrimental factors that would be related to its legalization,” sophomore molecular biology student Shya Dadashzadeh said. “It seems like it could have a lot of benefits.”
Xochil Rincon, a junior journalism student, does not T-H-see any problem with people who smoke marijuana. She said that it is “odd” to have a whole day to celebrate it.
“I think it’s silly that people make a big deal about this day,” Rincon said. “If you smoke marijuana, why do you feel the need to have a day for it? I believe alcohol is worse than marijuana but would I encourage people to start smoking? No. Do I judge people who do smoke? No.”
A study conducted by the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that cigarettes and alcohol pose more harm than cannabis. The Surgeon General’s Warning about Marijuana lists some of the known or suspected chronic effects of marijuana usage as impaired immune response and short-term memory damage.