Several arrested at 420 celebration at U.C. Santa Cruz

4/20 is the celebration of a drug that many believe should be legal, but despite the unofficial holiday, U.C. Santa Cruz police made it clear that it’s not legal yet and they won’t sacrifice student safety.

“Our entire objective today was to maintain public safety and keep everyone safe and I think we were very successful in doing so,” said U.C. Santa Cruz Police Chief Nader Oweis.

Of 3,000 to 4,000 people that showed up, no one was hurt but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any close calls. Police made several arrests including finding two men with a loaded gun, who appeared to be drug dealers. They also arrested a man with a knife and a club, according to U.C.S.C Police.

No one of these suspects were students at U.C. Santa Cruz.

“We also had a couple of other arrests… individuals were intoxicated to the point that they couldn’t take care of themselves so they were arrested” said Oweis.

A DUI checkpoint also led to three arrests and more than 100 traffic tickets and 200 parking tickets were given, police said.

The cost of the extra patrols was $100,000 and some students aren’t happy about it.

“I feel that the money that is being spent on bringing so many police onto campus can be used for other resources that students need,” said U.C.S.C student, Maribel Rico.

The school told KION that the extra police were needed to keep people safe.

“We take drug use very seriously and we really don’t want to see students using drugs…it can really have a lot of bad consequences for their life,” said Scott Hernandez-Jason a spokesperson who the university.