CANNABIS FESTIVAL SPARKS CONTROVERSY

Greater Sudbury's first annual Cannabis Festival was not without its
share of controversy.

The city denied organizers a permit to use Memorial Park grounds.
Organizers were also denied insurance from the city and several other
insurance companies, said co-organizer Kayla Guse.

Insurance companies said they were high risk, she said.

The day before the festival, Friday at about 4 p.m., organizers
discovered they were without permit and insurance. They decided to go
through with the event anyway, calling it a peaceful protest.

Due to the problems, many of the musicians booked to play in the park
Saturday afternoon backed out at the last minute, said Guse.

Her purpose for creating Cannabis Festival was to reduce the stigma
around medical marijuana users with chronic illnesses. The festival
was also to promote hemp as an environmental alternative for fuel,
concrete, paper, body oils, soap and other things. "The uses are
unlimited," said Guse.

She began to believe in the benefits of cannabis while in Toronto.

"I started by going to really large rallies in Toronto and I wanted
to bring some of that culture here because we are in a society where
everything is progressing and in Sudbury we don't have much.

"I just wanted to do something for the community to get people
involved, aware about the prohibition and how it really affects
everybody else," said Guse.

She was disappointed that she could not find support.

"I wanted to ... just have a fun day for everyone to get along and
show the city and everyone that we're here in peace, we're here to
just get along, have fun and ... that's it," said Guse.

Jamy McKenzie, owner of Delta 9 Culture Shop, took over the
organization when the problems began, choosing to set up in Memorial
Park without a permit.

The park is next to the Greater Sudbury Police Service station and
McKenzie had already spoken to an officer shortly after the event began.

McKenzie said he told the officer, "we are here peacefully protesting
our views. We're not here to harm anybody.

"I guess you could call it a cannabis hemp protest," McKenzie said,
"but now it's been geared toward the fact that we're not able to
collect and have an established event," he said.

McKenzie is a medical marijuana user himself, he said. He has four
chronic illnesses and believes medical marijuana has changed his
life. He was once paralyzed, but has regained the ability to walk.

"Cannabis has not taken away everything but it has helped me cope and
run a business, run my family," said McKenzie.

Despite complications, about 75 people had passed through the
festival, said McKenzie.

Tara Miron, Tim Lachance, and Chris Pierini came to the event "just
to check it out," said Lachance. They wanted to show people that
marijuana wasn't all bad, said Miron.

None of the three are medical marijuana users and they had not heard
about the use of hemp as a natural resource.

Guse was unable to charge the original $5 admission to raise funds
for another festival next year, but she held a few raffles instead.
"I'm still hoping to keep this as an annual event, and with the turn
out today, we will be taking it to the next level." said Guse.