FRAMINGHAM RESIDENT ADVOCATES MARIJUANA USE

ASHLAND -- Jim Pillsbury is a pothead, and he doesn't care who knows it.

"We're all labeled in some way," he said yesterday. "So I don't mind having
my name associated with drug reform.

"I play guitar, write, drive, make love, and do everything humanly possible
after I've consumed cannabis. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

The Framingham resident and spokesman of MetroWest's chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, said he
won a victory of sorts last week when he and the town of Ashland settled a
lawsuit over liability insurance for a pro-marijuana rally.

In spring 2002, Ashland imposed a $1 million liability insurance on a rally
Pillsbury had planned to collect signatures at Stone Park to support a 2002
state ballot question to decriminalize marijuana.

Backed by NORML and the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, or
MassCann, Pillsbury brought a free-speech lawsuit against the town.

The two parties settled last week, with the town agreeing to allow
Pillsbury use of any recreational facility for $150 liability insurance.
Ashland can also charge $25 per hour for use of the park.

Assistant Town Manager Dale Morris said yesterday the town was only
concerned with its liability and the safety of its residents. The nature of
the proposed rally was never an issue, he said.

"It's a free country and he has his constitutional right to voice his
opinion," Morris said.

Pillsbury said he exercises his "rights" every night. He said he sparks up
while reading, gardening or listening to Bob Dylan albums.

After a week spent working in a Cambridge biotech lab, he might even
indulge in multiple sessions, with a couple joints on the beach.

"I'm a 50-year-old guy in excellent health, and I've smoked pot for 34
years," he said. "I think part of my good health is because at the end of
the day I can consume a bit of cannabis and relax."

Pillsbury claims he's hardly alone.

"If all the people who smoke pot didn't go to work for one day, this
country would come to a screeching halt," he said.

Movements toward loosening marijuana laws, both here and abroad, have
encouraged Pillsbury. Canada recently proposed legislation to decriminalize
the drug. And in November 2000, 67.5 percent of Framingham voters approved
a nonbinding ballot initiative instructing their state representative to
support a bill making possession a civil infraction.

Pillsbury drove support for that initiative, and said he plans to collect
the 200 signatures needed to give Ashland a similar ballot question in
2004. Last year, he joked that the Ashland park was ideally suited for his
cause.

"If I could get Stone Phillips to come to Stone Park to interview a bunch
of stoners, that would be good," Pillsbury said at the time.

Pillsbury said he has no immediate plans to use Stone Park, except as a
possible location for an episode of "The Jim Pillsbury Show," his live
public access political program.

In 2004, he plans to run as the Libertarian candidate for state
representative in Framingham's 6th Middlesex District. He was defeated by
incumbent state Rep. Debby Blumer, D-Framingham, in 2002.

Until then, Pillsbury will continue with his activism.

"What motivates me is freedom," he said. "Freedom to ingest whatever it is
that I want into my body. Cannabis is something I choose to use in the
privacy of my own home or my back yard, and I should be able to do that."

Pillsbury said with the wrong user, anything from lawnmowers to milk can be
abused. He believes pots only real drawback is the legal repercussions of
getting caught. In 1985, he was convicted of selling marijuana, though he
did not serve jail time.

"I want to break the stigma of the pothead who sits around all day and does
nothing with his life," he said. "We're as good of human beings as anyone.
I'm a volunteer at the Salvation Army, I'm involved with civic
responsibilities, and I'm concerned about my neighbors and my community.

"I really think pot smokers are generally happier in life. There's a good
perspective that people get after they've consumed pot, and I think that's
good for society."