AMHERST RESPECTS "EXTRAVAGANJA"

Neon-colored flyers announcing "Extravaganja" paraded the walls among
various artistic pot leaf depictions in the Cannabis Reform Coalition's office.

The event, which usually attracts about 1,500 attendees in Amherst
Commons, is a day of protesting the prohibition of marijuana. During
the festival, rock rhythms and reggae beats blare through the crowd
and echo in the streets, speeches are given and vendors are propped
within the area. Among the crowd last year was the town manager of
Amherst, Larry Shaffer.

"I spent about 45 minutes there, and what I saw was a lot of young
people having a good time," Shaffer said. "It was good to see a lot
of people out. It afforded energy and excitement to our downtown and
we're happy to see that."

Travel 100 miles east of Amherst, and a town official attending an
event like Extravaganja is highly unlikely. Unlike other marijuana
festivals in Massachusetts, Extravaganja has received little police
interference over the last 18 years.

"We have this sacred vow of respect with the police every year," said
Alex Arsenault, treasurer of the CRC. "They come up to us and are
like, 'We're going to be here and we're not going to embarrass you if
you don't embarrass us.' It's a really miraculous thing to me that it
happens like that. I know at Hempfest in Boston cops are just running
around arresting people."

A few months ago, the town of Amherst did stir some controversy when
they tried to impose a fee for holding the event on the town commons.
The news reports implied the fee was specifically for Extravaganja,
but Shaffer said the fee applies to all events taking place in Amherst commons.

"When we have a large gathering, whether it's the boy scouts or
Extravaganja, we have issues like who pays for public safety and who
pays for police," Shaffer said. "Our issue is to make sure people's
safety is protected and to keep traffic flowing properly."

After the CRC protested and debated with the town, the fee was
quickly dropped. The town agreed that is wasn't worth the effort to
demand payment from event organizers.

Other marijuana festivals in Massachusetts do not receive as much
acceptance as Extravaganja, like the Freedom Rally in Boston held
every September by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (Mass Cann).

The festival resembles Extravaganja, but has a bigger draw and more
police enforcement. Mass Cann said the meaning behind their cause is
not portrayed fairly through the media.

"When the media comes, the first thing they do is find some
15-year-old sparking up," said Fred Hapgood, a member of Mass Cann.
"It's obviously bad publicity and makes people who are against the
Freedom Rally point."

Hapgood said there's more to the festival that gets overshadowed by
the pro-drug aspect.

"The rally represents the hippie culture. There are a lot of people
walking around interacting with one another," said Hapgood. "The true
sixties culture is associated with decriminalization. It's good for
the culture as a whole to revisit that point of view and the point of
view from those days."

The Freedom Rally was also threatened with a hefty fee to hold the
event, in the late nineties. Public officials loosened their grip
after Mass Cann sued the city of Boston twice, saying the fee was
unconstitutional.

President of Mass Cann Bill Downing claims the only purpose of the
fee was because "they didn't like marijuana and they didn't like our event."

Mass Cann won the suit, but police still swarm the festival, keeping
a cautious eye for clouds of smoke. Downing estimated that there were
50 arrests last year. He also said there can only be a certain amount
of arrests due to the limited amount of holding cells in the city.

"I tell people if they want to smoke do it anywhere but the rally,"
said Downing. "Walk a block from the rally to smoke and be 10 times safer."

Downing says the Freedom Rally is falsely slapped with the label of
"Hempfest," which is a festival that takes place in Seattle, and sees
it as a subtle attack on the event.

"The truth is the name Hempfest belongs to an event in Seattle," he
said. "Not calling [the Freedom Rally] by the right name is another
form of disrespect."

Larry Shaffer does think Amherst is more accepting of an event
celebrating an illegal substance than other towns would be.

"Amherst does have an independent streak," he said. "We really don't
want to be in anyone else's business. I see it as a matter of
personal preference."

Shaffer also mentioned that marijuana is nothing new to him, and it
wouldn't surprise - or bother - him to see someone enjoying the herb
at an event like Extravaganja.

"Young people may find it hard to believe, but there was marijuana a
long time ago," he said.

Arsenault, who has lived in Amherst his whole life, attended
Extravaganja as a child, long before he became a member of the CRC
his freshmen year at the University of Massachusetts. He spent his
childhood believing the event happened everywhere.

"There's definitely a really, really strong liberal community here in
Amherst," he said. "I actually grew up thinking all towns had
Extravaganja. It was a regular thing to me. I thought it was a normal
national event, but sadly that's not the case."