PETITIONERS NET 8,000 SIGNATURES

John Sinclair, whose arrest and subsequent 10-year prison sentence in
1970 for possession of two marijuana joints sparked the first Hash
Bash in 1971, was present Saturday along with 6,000 others to
celebrate the event's 30th anniversary. "Today is one of those days
when it is good to be an American," Sinclair said.

The main events of the day took place on the Diag from "high noon"
until 1 p.m. during which several speakers, including Sinclair,
addressed the audience assembled in front of the Harlan Hatcher
Graduate Library.

A major focus at the rally was on signing a petition to get the
Personal Responsibility Amendment on the state ballot. The initiative
is an attempt to legalize personal use of marijuana and to use funds
currently being spent fighting drug use on education and treatment
instead. Michigan state law mandates that for an initiative to end up
on a ballot, petitioners must receive 300,711 signatures in 180 days,
said attorney Gregory Schmid, author of the amendment and director of
PRA Michigan, the group leading the petition drive. The signatures
for the petition need to be obtained by Oct. 3.

After the event, Schmid said he was pleased with the turnout.

"It was quite a successful event for us," he said. "We think we got
about 8,000 signatures for the petition."

While Hash Bash mostly draws visitors from outside Ann Arbor,
students also came to take part or to just observe the crowd.

"I think it is pretty cool that they have this organized here. The
speakers were pretty good and they were a lot more organized than
last year," LSA sophomore Todd Patterson said.

Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said the majority
of the attendees of Hash Bash were from out of town.

"While I am sure University students were out milling around, they
were far in the minority," she said.

DPS arrested 22 people for marijuana possession, issued three tickets
for sales and solicitation, and had one incident of alcohol
possession in the Diag, Brown said.

"Of these 26 people, none of them were University students and only
five were Ann Arbor residents," she said. "That tallies up to
arresting 150 people in three years -- only one person was a
University student."

Two people who were found in possession of marijuana were also
arrested for resisting and obstructing police officers. During the
rally, a 17-year-old Brighton man and 24-year-old Frankfort man
fought with an officer as she attempted to arrest them for possession
of marijuana.

"The officer and her partner went into the crowd after they had
observed possession of marijuana, and then when trying to move the
17-year-old, he became combative and so did the 24-year-old," Brown
said.

Sinclair, the keynote speaker, spoke about the history of the fine
system for being caught in possession of marijuana, but the majority
of his speech focused on his belief that it is a First Amendment
right to smoke marijuana.

"It's wonderful to be out here in the open air exercising our First
Amendment rights as Americans and also our rights under the
Declaration of Independence to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness," he said.

Keith Strout, a marijuana reformer and the founder and national
director of the National organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, stressed that Hash Bash is about more than marijuana.

"This is really about a personal freedom and with (the signatures),
we are going to restore a personal freedom to the tens of millions of
otherwise law abiding smokers of marijuana in this country," Strout
said.

LSA sophomore Erika Wilson said she was attending her second Hash Bash.

"I just came to see what was going on. The music is pretty good. Last
year I was here for the rally and I think there was a better
turnout," Wilson said. "I think it is just people getting together
for a common cause. I personally don't think marijuana should be
legalized but I support people gathering here to fight for a cause."