HUNDREDS MARCH FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

Hundreds gathered on Library Mall this weekend for the Madison
chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law's 40th
annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival.

The festival began Friday with musical performances at the Frequency
and High Noon Saloon, and continued with several events Sunday on Library Mall.

Sunday's events included speeches, vendors, informational tables and
food booths, as well as musical guests Nama Rupa, Rocket-T and Venice
Gashouse Trolley.

Later in the afternoon festival attendees marched down State Street
to the steps of the capitol to rally for the legalization of marijuana.

"The march will let [politicians] know how we feel," said Charmie
Gholson, editor of the Midwest Cultivator, a medical marijuana trade
journal. Gholson was one of the speakers Sunday advocating for the
legalization of marijuana.

NORML is a nonprofit public-interest lobby, which supports the
legalization of marijuana.

Speakers at the festival stressed the importance of registering to
vote for legislators that support marijuana legalization.

"Politicians no longer have to be afraid of being in favor of drug
reform," Gholson said.

Gholson also stressed the importance of medical marijuana.

"Marijuana heals people in ways pharmaceutical drugs will kill them,"
Gholson said.

T.A. Sedlak, a writer for magazines such as GROW and Treating
Yourself, also spoke Sunday to show his support for the legalization
of marijuana.

According to Sedlak it is unfair for people to be put in jail because
of their lifestyle.

Within his speech Sedlak said the strict laws against marijuana are
driving people out of Wisconsin. If these laws were changed, Sedlak
said it would help bring people to the state.

Several vendors set up shop in Library Mall selling merchandise
ranging from Bob Marley memorabilia to hemp clothing.

Other booths were purely for informational purposes or for attendees
to register to vote in the Nov. 2 elections.