NEARLY 5,000 GATHER FOR 27TH HASH BASH

Smokers, Preachers Attracted

Carrying fliers, bongs full of marijuana and signs reading "HEMP: Help
Educate More People," "Relegalize Marijuana" and "Save The Trees -
Plant Hemp," participants in the 27th Hash Bash smoked pot freely and
protested hemp's illegal status Saturday on the Diag.

The annual festival brought about 5,000 people to the center of campus
at "high noon."

A number of speakers inspired the crowd, including Tommy Chong of the
infamous weed-smoking, movie-making duo Cheech and Chong.

"I'm so stoned I don't know what to say," Chong said.

But he had plenty to say.

"If the important people were stoned, there'd be less violence in the
world," Chong said.

Chong denied the potentially negative consequences of smoking
marijuana, saying he has been smoking nearly all of his life and at
60-years-old he can still "get it up," referring to theories about the
effects of marijuana on the body.

Another crowd favorite was Steve Hager, the editor in chief of High
Times Magazine.

"High Times officially declared that Ann Arbor is the coolest place in
the universe," Hager said.

Like Hager, many Hash Bashers came from out of town to participate in
the festivities.

"I drove down here from Clark Lake," said Rod Munch, a Michigan
resident. "I just wanted to bake out and support the local hempsters.
I love this place."

SNRE senior Dana Jonson handed out fliers promoting the cultivation of
hemp.

"It's a wonderful plant," Jonson said. "It can be used in more than
50,000 products. And it's much less dangerous that alcohol. There has
never been a death resulting from marijuana, but drinking leads to
problems like drunk driving and domestic violence."

Some at the rally also raised the issue of using marijuana as
medicine.

Belleville resident Rachel Gagnon is epileptic and has spent much of
her life suffering from seizures. For years she was on a prescription
drug that caused her to lose her hair, lose control of her bowels and
even stop breathing one day.

"I quit taking that drug and now I smoke marijuana," Gagnon said. "I
feel normal. It keeps me calm so I don't have seizures. I couldn't
come out today if I couldn't smoke. I'd be in bed."

But not all participants were interested in the political aspect of
Hash Bash.

"We just came out here to get high and enjoy the day," Westland
resident Jon Boshand said. "It's nice and relaxing. Everybody's just
here to have a good time and it's a mellow vibe going on."

While most of the crowd members were held in sync beliefs about
marijuana, a few expressed dissenting opinions.

"Pot's great and all, but some of the speakers were unrealistic," said
one participant, who did not want to be named. "Nothing's going to
change. If you legalize pot, no one will go to work.

"And people will use any excuse to get marijuana as medicine," he
added. "I have glaucoma so hook me up with a bag."

Among the smokers, there were also a handful of preachers promoting
abstinence from marijuana because, they said, smoking is against God's
will.

But the preachers and others who spoke out against the legal use of
marijuana seemed to be in the minority Saturday.

Onlookers booed the preachers and one man interrupted a preacher to
argue against his teachings.

"Have you ever talked to God?" the man asked. "Because I've done
shrooms, and I talked to God. And he told me to smoke weed!"

"God was the first stoner," Chong said. "That's why he's the most
high."

Several students who asked not to be named said they neither condemned
or condoned Hash Bash, but came out to take in the scene and people
watch.