40,000 IN BOSTON FOR PRO-POT RALLY

BOSTON (AP) -- With swirls of marijuana smoke wafting through the air,
about 40,000 people poured into Boston Common on Saturday for a rally
supporting legalization of the drug.

Police, who had vowed a crackdown on the 9th Annual Freedom Rally,
arrested 62 on drug possession charges -- 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, of Peabody, said marijuana was plentiful at the
rally -- at about $5 per cigarette, or $20 to $30 for a small bag.

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

``They don't know what's going on,'' 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 odor of pot -- masked occasionally
by the smell of tobacco or clove cigarettes.

Richard Elrick, a councilman in the Cape Cod town of Barnstable, sold
``Decriminalize Marijuana'' buttons to help raise money for the cause.

``Marijuana is less of a public health threat than alcohol or
tobacco,'' he said. ``I can't think of a more counterproductive way
for society to spend its resources than to arrest marijuana users.''

On the west side of the park, 16-year-old Jake Sealine of Cambridge
displayed homemade didgeridoos -- a musical wind instrument. Many
mistook them for marijuana bongs and Sealine had to explain himself
again and again to buyers.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry