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Marijuana
Rally Pushes Legalization
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By
LISA LIPMAN
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| .c The Associated Press BOSTON (AP) - What was billed as a rally to support marijuana legislation Saturday turned into a drug festival on Boston Common with 40,000 people, many of them minors illegally smoking marijuana. Police arrested 67 people for marijuana possession during the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition's 11th Annual Freedom rally. Another person was arrested for possession of 100 hits of acid, and two people were arrested for prostitution. The rally was intended to raise awareness about using voting power to get marijuana legalized, but many of the attendees weren't old enough to cast a ballot. David Brown, 19, of Hartford, Conn., said he was unaware the event had a political agenda. ``We thought we'd come down, listen to the bands, and pay homage to weed on the Common,'' Brown said with a grin. Groups of teen-agers sat in circles, some of them smoking cigarettes and discreetly passing around joints or pipes. Many sported various facial piercings or '60s flower-child dresses. The use of marijuana at the event didn't bother Ann McCormick, whose son, Todd, a cancer patient, is appealing a five-year sentence he received for growing marijuana. He is currently incarcerated in a California prison, she said. ``I would rather see someone use marijuana than to drink alcohol or to smoke cigarettes,'' McCormick said. ``The problem is in overuse of anything. It can be sports, it can be television, it can be video games. Moderation is the key.'' However, Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he disapproved of young people smoking at the event. ``I do think we all need to make the distinction that when we talk about stopping the arrest of marijuana smokers, we're talking about adults smoking marijuana in the privacy of their own home,'' Stroup said. ``We're not advocating that it should be legal to smoke in the park, and we certainly don't think marijuana is for kids.'' Anti-marijuana protesters such as William Breault of The Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention were also at the rally and supported the arrests. ``This shouldn't be a breeding ground for drug use,'' Breault said as he handed out anti-marijuana pins. ``It's not legal. We're here today to say it's wrong, and we're going work against it.'' AP-NY-09-17-00 0007EDT
-Ben Burch benburch@pobox.com
It is the argument of the tyrant and the creed of the slave. -- William Pitt, 1763
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