MARIJUANA FESTIVAL PROMOTES DRUG LEGALIZATION

BOSTON They came. They saw. They smoked.

Roughly 40,000 people showed up to the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition's 11th Annual Freedom rally on Boston Common and a number of
those who gathered to call for legalizing marijuana took the opportunity to
use it.

Organizers say the event merely supports pot legislation, not use of the
drug at the event. But they smiled with approval when Elvy Musikka, a
California resident who legally receives medical marijuana from the federal
government to treat her glaucoma, lit up a joint.

Nearby, police officers searched other rally attendees' bags and made 50
arrests for marijuana possession. One person was arrested for possession of
100 hits of acid.

Protesters such as William Breault of The Concerned Citizens for Drug
Prevention supported the police actions.

"This shouldn't be a breeding ground for drug use," Breault said as he
handed out anti-marijuana pins. "It's not legal. We're here today to say
it's wrong, and we're going work against it."

The rally was intended to raise awareness about using voting power to make
marijuana legal, but many of the attendees weren't old enough to cast a
ballot. For them, the event was more about the atmosphere.

Some, such as David Brown, 19, of Hartford, Conn., were unaware that the
event had any political agenda.

"We thought we'd come down, listen to the bands, and pay homage to weed on
the Common," Brown said with a grin.

Groups of teenagers sat in circles, some of them smoking cigarettes and
discreetly passing around joints or pipes. Many sported various facial
piercings or '60s flower-child dresses.

The use of marijuana at the event didn't bother Ann McCormick, whose son,
Todd, is appealing a five year sentence he received for growing pot plants.
Todd, a cancer patient, is incarcerated in a California prison, she said.

"I would rather see someone use marijuana then to drink alcohol or to smoke
cigarettes," McCormick said. "The problem is in overuse of anything. It can
be sports, it can be television, it can be video games. Moderation is the key."

Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he disapproved of young people smoking at
the event.

"I do think we all need to make the distinction that when we talk about
stopping the arrest of marijuana smokers, we're talking about adults
smoking marijuana in the privacy of their own home," Stroup said. "We're
not advocating that it should be legal to smoke in the park, and we
certainly don't think marijuana is for kids."