CU-Boulder's campus was closed last April 20, 2013, and it will be closed again in 2014. CU student leaders are putting on a marijuana symposium on April 2 in an effort to "repurpose" the annual campus smokeout that led to the closures. (Daily Camera file)

Making smokeout a hazy memory: CU-Boulder having pot symposium April 2

University of Colorado student leaders have set a date for the symposium to “repurpose” the annual 4/20 pot smokeout on the Boulder campus.

The event will be April 2 at the University Memorial Center.

Though details aren’t finalized, the symposium will include panels on topics such as the economics of marijuana, pot entrepreneurs, medical uses, women and cannabis culture and others, said Neelah Ali, a fifth-year senior working with CU Student Government on the event.

“We’re really trying to cultivate a cannabis culture,” Ali said. “This is an upward movement, something new. The times are changing, and it is a culture that we are very much a part of living in Colorado.”


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University officials in February announced that they would close the campus for a third year to curtail a large and unruly 4/20 gathering.

From noon to 6 p.m. April 20, CU faculty members, students and staff members are required to show their Buff OneCards, or CU identification cards, to enter the campus. Visitors with official business are required to obtain a visitor’s pass.

CU spokesman Ryan Huff said campus officials are supportive of the event.

“CU-Boulder has always been an institution that encourages good academic debate and the exchange of ideas,” Huff said. “Chancellor DiStefano is supportive of this event and appreciates the students’ efforts for coming up with this idea.”

This story was first published on DenverPost.com