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.

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.