[420 Girl]

Akin to mall stores hiring temporary help during the holiday season, the Dr. Reefer medical marijuana dispensary will employ extra workers leading up to the annual 4/20 pot smoke-out on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus.

Dr. Reefer — a stone's throw from the CU campus — is preparing for the unofficial gathering that draws thousands of people to smoke weed, protest drug laws and play a little Hacky Sack.

"I am sure I'm going to sell out of everything," said Pierre Werner, owner of Dr. Reefer, who is stocking up on green goods and has invited 20-some vendors to set up shop in his University Hill store for the April 20 event.

The proliferation of medical marijuana licenses is expected to give momentum to the pot-smokers' 4:20 p.m. start time on 4/20. Last year, crowds on the Norlin Quad at CU's Boulder campus numbered 10,000. But the CU chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws expects crowds to soar this year, growing to 15,000 attendees.

"The uprise in medical marijuana has brought all of this attention to Boulder," said Alex Douglas, executive director of CU's NORML chapter. "Four-twenty is a day of celebrating this phenomenal plant that we want legalized."

The city, by the end of January, had issued 105 sales-tax licenses for medical marijuana-related businesses, according to the most recent data. Additionally, the city estimates there are about 80 marijuana-growing operations in warehouses scattered throughout the city and county — most of which are operating illegally.

CU's NORML chapter is throwing an after-party at the Root Underground on University Hill that will showcase live music and begin at 6 p.m. and run until 4:20 a.m. Admission is $12, and $4.20 from each ticket sale will benefit NORML.

"It's going to be a very fun day," Douglas said. "It's going to be a very safe day. And we're going to stand up for what we believe in and protest the idiocracy of these marijuana laws."

CU keeps its smoke-out enforcement tactics a secret, but in the past, the school has turned the sprinklers on and taken photos of pot-smokers, posted them online and paid people who could identify them.

Last year, Chancellor Phil DiStefano e-mailed students and asked them to not attend the event because it bruises the university's reputation. Few tickets have been issued in recent years during the 4/20 public gathering, and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is petty crime that carries a maximum $100 fine.

CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said pot protesters may be better suited taking their message to Civic Center in Denver, where they could be within an earshot of the state Capitol, a more appropriate place for marijuana reform debate.

Several factors affect the size of the 4/20 crowd, including weather, Hilliard said. But campus safety remains the top concern for CU officials, he said, given the size of the gathering.

Daniel Ramos, a CU student-body president, said the student government hasn't taken a position on the event.

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