Colorado Christian University’s onboard think tank, the unflinchingly conservative Centennial Institute, is circulating a petition that seeks to make last week’s annual “4/20” pot fest in downtown Denver the city’s last.

The online petition reads:

Denver’s 4/20 rallies have become unsafe, flaunting blatant illegal activity, and trashing a national historic landmark, and with incidents of knife attacks and gunshots, the rally is a threat to attendees and the people of Denver.

When voters of Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, they established important safety guidelines, one of those being that marijuana cannot be consumed openly and publicly. Despite warnings, signage, and the presence of security and the Denver Police, marijuana was allowed to be consumed openly and publicly by many attendees, even in the presence of children and infants. Marijuana was also consumed on stage by performers with no action by law enforcement.

Afterward, organizers of the 4/20 rally did not adequately clean up Civic Center Park, a national historic landmark. The result was huge amounts of trash left over for city workers to clean up. This is an additional cost to taxpayers and a desecration of an important park in our city.

The 4/20 rally also creates series safety problems. Gun shots took place nearby, a knife attack took place at the event, and attendees pushed down a security fence to gain access to the rally.

It is clear from this event that organizers do not have the safety and well-being of Denver residents in mind. They allow for the flagrant violation of the law, the trashing of Civic Center Park, and do not provide adequate security for event attendees.

We hereby ask that Denver Mayor Michael Hancock terminate future 4/20 rallies in the city of Denver.

While the rally offered the usual fodder for the continuing political debate over Colorado voters’ decision in 2012 to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, last week’s event also left fallout of a less philosophical kind, as Centennial’s petition points out: The participants — surprise — left a mess behind in Denver’s Civic Center Park near the State Capitol. It seems both aspects of the annual spectacle aggrieve Centennial and are driving its petition.

It’s worth noting — as we did here, the other day — that four-plus years into Colorado’s experiment with legal marijuana, a fissure evidently has opened up in the marijuana world, pitting the newly legit industry and its assorted purveyors against the partiers.

As Denverite’s Adrian Garcia reported on the day of the gathering:

Legalization split the cannabis community’s perception of Denver’s big 4/20 event. Key people who in past years joined the rally in Civic Center Park are now involved in promoting the industry and have abandoned the annual event and even admonish its participants.

Which raises the question: Will Centennial more or less get its way, eventually, even if Denver continues to permit the event? Meaning, either the happening will fizzle for lack of controversy in years to come — or will go so mainstream that, someday, more craft beer than cannabis is consumed there?