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Boston University rally gets fired up about the legalization of marijuana

From U-Wire
Arizona Daily Wildcat,
September 21, 1999

BOSTON - About 40,000 people crowded on Boston Unviersity Common Saturday for the 10th annual Freedom Rally, a protest in support of decriminalizing marijuana.

Boston Police officers arrested 72 people at the rally, mostly for drug possession, although one man was arrested for carrying a loaded gun, said Boston Police spokesman Kevin Jones.

Despite the few number of arrests, many participants were lighting up joints and passing bowls of marijuana in small groups on the lawn filled with political and religious campaigners, vendors and participants of all ages.

"I saw a guy smoking (marijuana) about 5 feet away from the cops, and he wasn't doing anything. It was a big blunt, too," said Boston resident Ann Bernier, who was walking by the rally in the Common.

Police were stationed at check points around the perimeter of the fenced-in rally and at the top of a hill in the enclosed area. However uniformed police officers were not, for the most part, circulating through the crowd of protesters.

There were undercover police officers throughout the crowds making arrests, Jones said. Plain-clothes officers brought handcuffed suspects to a small police tent in one corner of the demonstration.

Police officers were present to "keep the peace, to protect and serve," according to Jones.

Organized by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law, this year's rally was aimed at collecting signatures for a proposed November 2000 ballot initiative on decriminalizing marijuana.

Although it would not legalize marijuana, the initiative would reduce punishment for using the drug to a civil offense punishable by fines of up to $200. It would also allow marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes. Distribution to persons under 18 would still merit a criminal punishment with imprisonment up to two and a half years, a fine up to $5,000 or both.

The group needs to collect more than 57,000 signatures to have their initiative considered by legislators this fall. If lawmakers do not take action, Mass Cann will have to collect more signatures to get the question on the ballot in the spring.

Mass Cann collected about 20,000 petition signatures for the decriminalization initiative at the rally, said Jon Holmes of Cambridge, a Mass Cann volunteer. The interest group also registered many rally participants to vote, he said.

R. Keith Stroup, the founder and executive director for NORML, said his group supports the movement to legalize marijuana for three reasons. He objected to the amount of money the government spends on enforcing marijuana laws, when they could be using money against more serious crimes. It also destroys the lives of many users who get caught, he said. He also said it is wrong for the government to control this aspect of American's lives.

"Marijuana prohibition invites the government into a part of our life that's inappropriate," Stroup said.

One of many volunteers at the rally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore Charisse Massay, was working to help collect signatures for Mass Cann's initiative. Massay is a member of the MIT Hemp Coalition, an activist group at the university that tries to raise students' awareness of the drug.

"You'll find that the more you learn, the angrier you get," Massay said of marijuana.

David Draugelis, a Boston resident who has been a marijuana activist for about 35 years, said demonstrations like the Freedom Rally need to be held until the law is changed.

"Being one of the drug guinea pigs of the 60s, I've been smoking for that many years, and I've seen no adverse effects that it's had on me," Draugelis said.

Author Joe Astro sold autographed copies of his book "2002," a novel promoting the movement for marijuana legalization and real-life experiences of police actions against marijuana users.

Astro said he's fighting the law because he got caught up in a drug bust five years ago in an apartment building he owned.

"Basically, I'm a hard-core fighter," Astro said. "I'm a Vietnam vet who fought for something I didn't believe in, so now I fight for something I do."

Despite the political intentions of the rally, not all that came were interested in the political action. Many just came for a good time.

"We came to meet some people and have a smoke and stuff," said Suffolk University freshman Chris Dilling.

He added that, for him and his friends, some of the activities at the rally were not unusual in the park.

"We come out every night and smoke on the Commons when no one is around," Dilling said.

Although all laws are still in effect, some at the festival weren't sure whether it was legal to smoke in the Common during the rally.

"My friends had varying opinions on what you could do," Emerson College sophomore Alicia Koscielniak said. "Some thought you could do anything, and some thought you just couldn't buy [marijuana]."

Two women that asked Ohio Hemp merchant and attorney Don Wirtshafter, who spoke at the rally, if it was legal to smoke marijuana in the fenced-off area were told if they wanted to smoke marijuana, they should "get in the middle of the crowd and don't go on the back hill.


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