PRO-CANNABIS PROTEST HELD IN PEACE, MAN

Police made no arrests at a pro-cannabis protest in Invercargill
yesterday - despite a cannabis plant being in plain view and
supporters openly smoking the drug.

A police officer at the scene, next to the Cenotaph in Dee St, read
the Misuse of Drugs Act but after talking with the protesters did not
act on it.

Protest co-ordinator Dakta Green said it was the group's most heated
exchange with police on its nationwide protest tour but was pleased it
had not gone further. "It was a perfectly reasonable and responsible
thing for the Invercargill police to do - this is a peaceful political
protest and they did right to step back and withdraw." There had been
two arrests on the tour, in Palmerston North on Good Friday, for
cannabis use.

Senior Sergeant Olaf Jensen, of Invercargill, said police didn't
undertake the search for operational reasons.

Southland area commander Inspector Tony O'Neill said the group's aim
was to provoke a reaction - which police were not going to give it.

He also questioned the positioning of Norml's bus so close to the
Cenotaph only days after Anzac Day. Promoting what was, whether the
protesters liked it or not, an unlawful activity in the shadow of a
monument devoted to men and women who had lawfully died in service of
their country was disrespectful, he said.

About 60 people turned up in the rain for the afternoon rally to give
their support for legalising cannabis.

The protest trip was organised by the National Organisation for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml).

Originally, it was just to visit a friend in Dunedin but developed
into Norml's most extensive tour, with protests throughout the
country, Mr Green said. "In a stoner moment, we invented 42 towns in
42 days just to get to him in Dunedin." And in true pot-smoking logic,
Invercargill was the 43rd stop on the "42-town" tour.

The group also plans to protest on Stewart Island today.