Though Monday's sky was covered in a blanket of gray, some UF students managed to lighten the mood with a little green as part of 4/20, an unofficial holiday centered on marijuana.
While participating students celebrated in a variety of ways, there was one common theme among their festivities: smoking pot, and lots of it.
Chris*, a UF senior, spent five hours burning through one-eighth of an ounce - $60 worth of marijuana - with about 10 other friends Sunday night as part of his second year celebrating the holiday.
He said impending exams and project due dates forced the group to smoke, make salsa and play Xbox 360 a day early, but these considerations were not enough to scrap the holiday altogether.
"I'm not too serious about it, but it's fun to celebrate with friends," Chris said. "If you have a reason to celebrate, then celebrate."
The holiday, which is observed annually on April 20, got its moniker from a ritual dating back to the early 1970s, according to a Monday article in The New York Times.
A group of Northern California teens would smoke marijuana every day at 4:20 p.m., and the term's association with weed was cemented as word of this practice spread over the next few decades.
Nationally, 4/20 fans often hold campus "smoke-outs," or large group smoking sessions, and pot-themed concerts and festivals.
Local offerings Monday night included the Santa Fe College Film Society's "Smokescreen," a collection of short student films shown at the Hippodrome State Theatre, and downtown's Market Street Pub advertised a "4-20 reggae party" featuring musician Kevin Batchelor.
Before the film festival, Jared Lipscomb, a Santa Fe student and member of the film society, greeted attendees in full drag and introduced himself as "Sparkle Antoinette" while Bob Marley played on the speakers.
Lipscomb, who hoped to draw at least 50 people to the event, said the film society chose the date of the festival with 4/20's connotations in mind, even though the films and event as a whole were not themed around marijuana.
"We figured more people would be looking for something like this to do, and more people would be in the mood to sit around," Lipscomb said. "But it should be enjoyable no matter what state of mind you're in."
Some smokers took a more low-key approach. Tom*, a UF senior, spent Monday afternoon playing Nintendo 64 and smoking at home. He said he has smoked pot on 4/20 for the last five years and made no special plans for the day. Though he has smoked with small groups of people to celebrate in the past, Tom said blowing 4/20 out of proportion is silly.
"At this point, it's just another day," he said. "I smoke because I enjoy it, not because it's a funny holiday."
Both Tom and Chris agreed that 4/20 celebrations have become more common in recent years and indicate a burgeoning social and political acceptance of marijuana.
However, some universities have targeted the holiday as a problem this year. Several U.S. colleges are taking steps to discourage student smokers from celebrating too openly, according to the Times article.
At the University of Colorado at Boulder, where thousands of students have participated in smoke-outs on the quad, administrators sent out an e-mail asking students to avoid participating in unlawful activities that would debase the school.
But UF and local police officials voiced relatively little concern about the holiday.
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said she had heard about concerns at some West coast colleges, but UF has not experienced any problems in the past and did not take any measures to prepare for 4/20 this year.
Similarly, Gainesville Police spokesman Keith Kameg said he had no knowledge of 4/20, and the GPD had no plans to take special measures for the day. Without a clearly defined event, such as a large-scale smoke-out, it would be difficult to target smokers, he said.
"Unless it rises to the point where it's affecting others, like getting into a car accident, we're not society's babysitters" he said. "We don't go into people's houses to see if they're smoking pot on national pot-smoking day."
"Maybe if we notice something like excessive pizza deliveries, we'll monitor that and handle it on a case-by-case basis," Kameg added with a laugh.
Asterisks in the article denote names given to students who wished to remain anonymous.
