Students that dream of marijuana legalization and enjoy the glorious action of competitive Super Smash Bros have the opportunity to indulge both of those interests at a tournament fundraiser at the University of Wyoming College of Law Saturday.
The tournament will take place in room 170 at the law college with registration open from noon to 12:30 p.m. A $5 entry fee will serve as fundraising for NORML Students of the University of Wyoming, an RSO that’s part of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Brittany Thorpe, president of the student organization and a graduate student at the Law College, said the RSO formed to bolster Wyoming’s small presence in the national organization, which was founded in 1970.
“People are afraid to put their name on it so we’re still pretty small as a group,” Thorpe said.
Support for legalization in Wyoming may be widespread but silent, according to an October survey administered by the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center at UW. Nearly half of those surveyed were in favor of legal possession and 86 percent said they support legalization for doctor-prescribed medical use. WYSAC has little information about marijuana attitudes on the UW campus itself, said Senior Research Scientist Brian Harnisch.
“We would have to have funding and a reason to survey for that,” Harnisch said. “From the people that we’ve done on-campus work for, that hasn’t come up as a question of interest. If something comes up, I think that’s a great opportunity to do it.”
The local NORML group has 20 names on its roster and about 10 active members, and is engaged in legislative matters regarding marijuana and marijuana-related issues in Wyoming.
“This year we went and lobbied for House Bill 171, which provided funding to hemp, because as a state we legalized hemp two years ago but we haven’t been able to grow it,” Thorpe said. “And it would make our CBD laws match the federal laws, because right now our CBD laws are just so confusing no one knows where that is, legally.”
CBD, short for cannabidiol, is the non-psychoactive ingredient of hemp and marijuana most associated with medical use. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a purified form of CBD last June. Wyoming House Bill 171, “Hemp, cannabidiol and other controlled substance regulation,” was passed unanimously by the House earlier this month and awaits a final vote in the Senate.
NORML’s UW members started planning their Smash Bros tournament following the release of the most recent version of the game in December, giving players a good chunk of time to adjust to the updates. Depending on the number of participants, the format is planned for one-on-one matches and will scale up to free-for-all bouts if needed. If free-for-all matches are used, each round will be timed and the winner will be the player with the most knockouts, and a trophy awaits the ultimate winner.
“A lot of the law students were really excited about it and we figured we should jump on that excitement,” Thorpe said.
For those with a thirst for more Smash Bros action, the Wyoming eSports Club hosts weekly Smash events Fridays at 7 p.m. in the Math Assistance Center in Ross Hall. The RSO’s president, Jacob Oleyar, says the club is putting on a larger tournament March 9.
