Charlie Brown is a vocal Denver city councilman and the chair of the council’s Amendment 64 Committee, and he had some interesting — and often surprising — things to say in his recent appearance on The Roundup, a video series by The Denver Post’s editorial board.
One of those somewhat surprising comments was the first thing out of Brown’s mouth: “I believe in celebrating 4/20,” he said — and followed it with, “but I believe they should celebrate it according to the law, and that would be smoke in the privacy of their home. It’s in our state constitution: You can’t smoke marijuana in public, period … So celebrate, but celebrate in the privacy of your home.”
Related: See this videos’s companion, an interview with 4/20 rally organizer Miguel Lopez.
Brown had some other fascinating nuggets for The Post’s Alicia Caldwell:
“Is this how we celebrate Easter?” — Brown on 4/20 landing on Easter Sunday in 2014.
“They’re paying us a fee to disobey our laws … I think we should challenge that.” — Brown on the festival fee the 4/20 organizers are paying the city of Denver for Civic Center’s rental.
“I told (4/20 rally organizer Miguel Lopez) that the free ride was over.” — Brown on the event evolving from a First Amendment-styled political rally to a formal festival.
“The business people in the marijuana industry don’t want this to happen. I see this as a political movement, and they want this to expand to other states, and they know that this is not the image that will help that expansion, and that’s why they’re against it.” — Brown on marijuana businesses being against the 4/20 rally.
“It will be intelligently enforced … You’ll see more police and more enforcement.” — Brown on how the 4/20 rally will be policed in 2014.
