HUB POLICE BRACE FOR MARIJUANA RALLY ON COMMON

Boston police will be out in force today as thousands of people descend on
Boston Common for the 11th annual rally supporting the legalization of
marijuana.

For security reasons, police declined to say yesterday exactly how many
officers have been assigned to the six-hour demonstration, which kicks off
at noon.

But spokesman Kevin Jones said, ``We'll be out in force. And I'm sure there
will be arrests.''

There were last year, and one of them nearly proved fatal.

In an incident organizers called ``extremely atypical,'' a 19-year-old New
Hampshire man who was about to be booked for marijuana possession pulled a
fully loaded 9mm pistol out of his pocket.

Sgt. Dan Linskey lunged forward in time to jam his finger in the trigger
guard, as other officers tackled Kevin Lavalliere to the ground.

Lavalliere was one of some 70 people arrested at last year's rally, which
drew about 40,000 people in support of a referendum to try to get marijuana
possession reduced from a criminal to a civil offense and legalize the use
of pot for health reasons. Mass Cann spokesman Steven Epstein said the
ultimate goal is to ``end the war on drug users, expose the corruption of
current drug policy and take the government to task for its cruel and
unusual punishment of marijuana offenders,'' a claim their opponents openly
deride.

``I'm all for freedom of speech, but freedom of speech does not involve
breaking the law,'' said Lea Palleria Cox, president of Concerned Citizens
for Drug Prevention, based in Hanover. ``The sad part is so many kids are
lured into thinking this is a harmless drug.''

Cox accused the city of not doing enough to stop people from smoking pot at
the rally. But city Parks Chief of Staff Don King said it hasn't been for
lack of trying.

``We've argued our case, and two different judges have told us we can't bar
them from demonstrating,'' King said yesterday. ``The test is how well we
manage it.''

The city has managed to get some concessions, including an agreement that
organizers will confine the rally to only one section of the Common, and
refrain from encouraging youngsters to light up.

``This has nothing to do with getting young people interested,'' Epstein
said.

This year, Mass Cann will register people to vote, and speakers will include
Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne, Aimee Smith of the
Massachusetts Green Party and Carla Howell, Libertarian Senate candidate.