CANNABIS DAY PASSES PEACEFULLY

Canada Day means different things to different people, and for about 1,000
or so metro residents yesterday it meant rolling marijuana joints in plain
view on the Dartmouth Common. Marijuana activist Gene Purdy led the sixth
annual Cannabis Day celebration at the Common's gazebo.

He told the largely under-30 crowd basking in 32 C sunshine that smoking
the illicit drug is part of his religion.

"The existence of freedom of religion doesn't extend to marijuana," said
Purdy, a Rastafarian.

"You can't say you just don't like (my) religion."

A strong believer in the decriminalization of marijuana, Purdy said people
who smoke cigarettes cost society more in financial burdens than pot smokers.

"I have been smoking grass for 35 years. It hasn't hurt me," he said.

The government refuses to legalize marijuana, he said, because it knows it
won't be able to tax it.

Medical marijuana user Mark Crossley smokes what he called "the Lord's
weed" to control seizures caused by a brain tumour.

Addressing the crowd, Crossley said he was glad to see police were absent
from the peaceful gathering.

He says he's been harassed by police for smoking the drug, and he believes
that's morally wrong.

"I will rant, I will rave, because I'm totally pissed," said Crossley.

Soaking up the sun and enjoying the strong smell of marijuana on the Common
were 20-something Halifax residents Jill and Sheldon, who both declined to
give their last names.

"It's a pretty quiet day," said Sheldon, adding he thought the reason
police left the event alone probably had to do with the sheer number of pot
smokers.