SMALLER CROWD, FEWER ARRESTS AT ANNUAL PRO-MARIJUANA-LEGALIZATION EVENT

ANN ARBOR -- Politics mixed with partying at Saturday's 27th annual
Hash Bash, at which marijuana users and their sympathizers gather on
the University of Michigan campus to rally for legalized pot.

University officials estimated the crowd at 3,500 to 4,000, smaller
than the 1998 turnout of 5,000. Organizers said they believed 5,000 to
8,000 people showed up.

By 2:30 p.m., campus police had made "12 to 15 arrests," fewer than
the number arrested a year earlier, university spokeswoman Julie
Peterson told The Ann Arbor News.

"All in all, they were well-behaved ... (police) were pleasantly
surprised," she said.

Most of the arrests Saturday and in past Hash Bashes were for
marijuana possession, which is punishable in Ann Arbor by a $25 fine.
Legislation that would force Ann Arbor and other cities with similar
penalties to match the tougher state penalty -- a $100 fine and
maximum 90 days in jail -- has cleared the state Senate, making
Saturday's rally a bit more political than in years past.

The crowd cheered loudly for several speakers who criticized Sen. Mike
Rogers, R-Howell, one of the bill's sponsors.

"It seems like Senator Rogers wants to turn the Bill of Rights, the
Constitution and the Ann Arbor City Charter into toilet paper," said
Tom Harris, a local activist. "He thinks that's what they're for."

Another speaker, Renee Emry Wolfe, talked about her arrest last
September at the Washington office of U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.,
who opposes the medical use of marijuana. She was jailed after
lighting a marijuana cigarette to forestall what she said would have
been a seizure related to her multiple sclerosis.

"I don't know what constitutes medical necessity, if this didn't,"
said Ms. Wolfe, who faces trial later this month in Washington. "We
should stand up and make our voices heard."