HEMPFEST RALLIES SUPPORTERS FOR BALLOT INITIATIVE

While the Florida Gators battled Vanderbilt on the football field two
miles down University Avenue at Florida Field, another group of
passionate fans - for the legalization of marijuana - gathered for the
10th annual Gainesville Hempfest at the Downtown Community Plaza.

The Hempfest, sponsored by the Cannabis Action Network, began at 2
p.m. Saturday with a speech by CAN Director Kevin Aplin advocating
legalization for medical, industrial and recreational use of marijuana.

The festival of music, pro-legalization speeches and education of the
medical uses of the drug lasted until 11 p.m. Gainesville Police Sgt.
Larry Seale said police expected no trouble from festivalgoers.

"We spoke with Kevin Alpin and it was clear that their goal and our
goal together was to have a peaceful event. And that's how it has
been, real peaceful," Seale said late Saturday.

"The use of marijuana is a matter of personal choice and individual
responsibility," Aplin said as a small crowd trickled into the park.
The purpose of the Hempfest, he said, was to enjoy a concert as well
as to educate citizens, get them to register to vote and sign a
petition to the state to put marijuana legalization on the ballot for
the 2000 elections.

"That's why we came, to stand up for what we believe in, stand up for
something and fight for it," said Kelly DeFilippo, a UF sophomore.
"Why is alcohol legal? It does exactly the same thing to the body as
pot. And then they throw people in jail for years for it? It's crazy
and we're voicing our feelings today."

Students began to arrive in larger numbers as the afternoon wore
on.

By 5:00, most of the Downtown Community Plaza was full of barefoot
dancers on the lawn as bands played.

Throughout the park, people ate Jamaican vegetarian dinners from a
booth set up for the day near University Avenue.

The crowd was mellow, but Aplin and CAN were kept busy.

At a booth near the center of the park, the organization pushed for
registration and sign the petition to put legalization on the ballot.

Anyone wanting to register could do so at the festival in a matter of
minutes.

"We want everyone to be a part of the political process with this,"
Aplin said.

Marijuana is currently legal for medicinal use in California,
Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, Washington state and, as of this week after
passage through the state legislature, Maine.

"Maine's the first eastern state to pass legalization. If it can be
done there it can be done here in Florida," Aplin said.

The Cannabis Action Network is pushing for legalization of marijuana
for medical purposes in the 2000 elections, Aplin said, because drugs
produced from Cannabis sativa, or hemp, has been acknowledged as
medically beneficial by doctors.

Arthritis, depression, chronic pain, muscle spasms, glaucoma, multiple
sclerosis and AIDS have been cited by doctors as illnesses where
patients could benefit from hemp's use.

"People are suffering," Adam Sloop, a UF senior said. "If they're sick
and marijuana would help them deal with their illness, then who should
deny them that?"