For those of you who did not already know, yesterday was 4/20, a day that can only be described as an unofficial “National Marijuana Day.” Thus, I wondered what people would be doing in this holiday’s honor, if one can call it that. Before shouting “ignorarmous,” what I mean is that I was curious to see what people would be doing within the confines of the law. The answer ranged from protests and petitions to discounts on medical marijuana. However, Oaksterdam University is far-and-away the most interesting example I discovered of combining marijuana with the law. Just this past weekend, classes were being held as per usual in this Oakland school.

To say that Oaksterdam (a combination of Amsterdam and Oakland) is not an actual university would still be a mammoth understatement. Nevertheless, it certainly provides an education—everything one could possibly want to know about marijuana. More specifically, Oaksterdam was founded by Richard Lee as a place to teach the basics of the marijuana business, from horticulture to the techniques for running a “pot club.” While smoking marijuana may be illegal throughout the county, it is in fact legal in California for medical purposes. Thus, Lee is allowed to run his university free from much legal prosecution. He believes that keeping his business as open as possible is the best way to avoid getting entangled with the law.

It may appear as though this school and its attendees consist of people either looking to make a quick dollar or learn to grow marijuana plants themselves while avoiding persecution. While this may certainly be the case for some, one cannot forget that the reason California legalized marijuana in the first place was on medical grounds. At least some of the attendees either genuinely desire to help people who have no other outlet for their pain or are in grave amounts of pain themselves. Regardless of one’s attitude for the full legalization of marijuana, helping people is something that cannot be condemned, on 4/20 or any other day of the year.

A new trade school in Oakland, CA is preparing its students for a highly competitive career in a burgeoning field: medical marijuana. For $200, Oaksterdam University (clever, huh?) teaches students how to cultivate and cook with pot, and equips them to navigate the legal restrictions on the use of medical marijuana.

"My basic idea is to try to professionalize the industry and have it taken seriously as a real industry, just like beer and distilling hard alcohol," said Richard Lee, the activist and medical marijuana distributor who founded the school.

While Lee’s students seem excited about learning to “grow pot at home for fun, health, public service — or profit,” not everyone is thrilled. Though Lee’s school is totally legal, Michael Chapman, an assistant agent in charge with the Drug Enforcement Agency's San Francisco office, thinks it’s more of a detriment than a public service. "I think they are sending the wrong message out to the community and it's something that could only facilitate criminal behavior," he said.

Fun fact: According to Lee, entry-level workers at medical marijuana dispensaries earn over $50,000 a year on average, and managers and owners often make over $100,000.

From a Boston Globe blog, via reddit:

A pair of freshmen at Northeastern University learned a tough lesson before classes even started this semester, when one of them allegedly leaned out the window of his dormitory and yelled something regrettable in earshot of plainclothes police officers.

"If you're looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale," Michael R. Emery yelled, according to a release issued today by the Suffolk district attorney's office.

The sales pitch, made Sunday to a fellow student out a second-floor window at the Hemenway Street residence hall, got Emery, 18, and his roommate, Matthew J. Ferrante, 18, in a lot of trouble. After their room was searched and officers found a bevy of marijuana, smoking accessories and liquor, the pair was arrested, arraigned, and apparently thrown out of school.

"I can tell you that they are no longer students here at Northeastern," said Laura Shea, a school spokeswoman, who declined to comment further.

Samhita of Feministing asks, "Is smoking weed a feminist act?" She cites an article from Seattle's The Stranger about male-dominated mainstream pot culture in which, "Men are allowed to be lazy" but women are held to a more ambitious standard.

I have to agree, I never thought of pot as a male activity, probably because many of the women I knew in college were just as likely -- if not more likely -- to toke up as our male classmates. On the other hand, when pot is depicted in popular culture (Road Trip, Half Baked) it's depicted as a male activity. You almost never see women toking up on screen unless it's some kind of cheesy after-school special.

I think this may be one of many instances where popular culture inaccurately reflects real life. Thoughts?

I just returned from sunny California where the state’s in a bit of a budget crisis. I spent most of my time drinking fresher boba and eating yakitori with more obscure body parts than you can find on the East Coast. But I took a few seconds from consuming here and there to talk politics (although it was mostly about the mayor’s affair with a reporter, his bodyguard manhandling a reporter, or a number of other politicians’ political pratfalls). Among the proposals floating around to close the budget deficit – mostly cutting funding for a cocktail of social services – none seemed as outside-the-boxy as one I heard today after I returned to D.C.