The term “420” is now almost 45 years old, starting when “a group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the ‘Waldos’ – by virtue of their chosen hang-out spot, a wall outside the school – coined the term in 1971,” according to the Huffington Post article by Ryan Grim.
Grim says the five “Waldos” would meet after their sports’ practices at 4:20 p.m., in the fall of 1971 to search for a Coast Guard service member’s supply of marijuana because he could no longer tend to it. Although they never found the supply, the friends continued to use the phrase “420” when referring to their beloved plant, and it carried on from there.
In honor of this unofficial national holiday, here are some statistics from NCC Campus Safety reports on cannabis on campus during the spring terms of the years 2010-2016 (findings from 2016 spring term only include weeks one and three).
In the stated time frame, there have been 29 total incidents reported on campus involving marijuana; two in 2010, six in 2011, four in 2012, two in 2013, seven in 2014, five in 2015, and three so far in 2016.
Based on these incidents, the most popular place to “blaze it” happens to be the North Central parking lots, specifically the remote lot and Highland Avenue lot. Six reports occurred in a parking lot, two were by Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, two were in Student Village, two in Rall Hall, two in Residence Hall/Recreation Center, and two in Schneller Hall.
The following each have one incident report: New Hall, Ward Hall, Naper Place Apartments, Seager Hall, Patterson Hall and Oesterle Library.
There were also a few incident reports that did not include locations.Ten reports involved nonstudents, including one in which a nonstudent approached a group of students while driving a vehicle and asked them if they had any cannabis.
Naperville itself has been an element in a majority of the cannabis incidents. The Naperville Police have been involved in 21 of the 29 reports, giving over 10 citations and making over 10 arrests to students and nonstudents alike.
In the past six spring terms, and three weeks of the current spring term, there have been 29 incidents involving cannabis. Additionally, 20 incidents have been recorded during the time period of winter term 2016 and Spring Break 2016. These reports are particularly high among the first-year dorms; five reports each for Seager Hall and Geiger Hall, two in Patterson Hall, and one in Rall Hall. The rest of the incidents include three from Schneller Hall, two from Kimmel Hall, and one in which two nonstudents received police citations at Oliver Hall (WONC, NCC’s radio station).
Recreationally, it is illegal, and it is very difficult for one to receive prescribed medical marijuana. Brianna Wellen writes in the “Chicago Reader” that, “…my quest for the elusive green card has so far taken three physicians, five months, and $450. And I still don’t have one.”
With large amounts of time and money spent, Wellen notes that only a small percentage of patients actually get approved.
“According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, only 16.7 percent of patients, or 5,000 out of the nearly 30,000 who have started an application for the medical cannabis pilot program, have been approved,” wrote Wellen.
Of the data found in the Campus Safety reports, there is nothing stated about the cannabis confiscated being medically prescribed. Medicinal marijuana is not legal to possess on the North Central College campus.
