RALLY CALL FOR DRUGS GOES TO POT

BOSTON: With swirls of marijuana smoke wafting through the air, about
40,000 people gathered in Boston on Saturday for a rally supporting
legalisation of the drug.

Police, who had vowed a crackdown on the 9th Annual Freedom Rally, arrested
about 40 on drug possession charges. That's far fewer than the 150 arrests
at last year's event, which attracted about 10,000 more people.

``The cops were trying to intimidate people from coming but I don't think
it worked,'' said Bill Downing, president of the Massachusetts Cannabis
Reform Coalition.

At one police checkpoint, Amy Cook and three other students prayed for pot
smokers to turn away from drugs. ``They're going to do what they're going
to do. But they might see us and think twice later,'' she said.

Doug Goudreau, 19, said marijuana was plentiful at the rally _ at about
US$5 (HK$39) per cigarette, or US$20-US$30 for a small bag.

The police, he said, missed a lot of the dealing.

``They don't know what's going on,'' Mr Goudreau said. ``They look for the
fools who are acting stupid.''

Tie-dyed shirts, mushroom-shaped hats and marijuana-leaf motifs were
everywhere, as was the unmistakable odour of pot _ masked occasionally by
the smell of tobacco or clove cigarettes.

Richard Elrick, a councilman in the Cape Cod town Barnstable, sold
``Decriminalise Marijuana'' button badges to help raise money for the cause.

Checked-by: Richard Lake