CANNABIS ADVOCATES RALLY FOR RIGHTS

Group Seeks Lighter Penalties

Under hovering storm clouds, thousands gathered on the Boston Common
yesterday to sway to gritty rock music, shop for T-shirts with slogans
like "Thank You for Pot Smoking," and rally against marijuana prohibition.
Police motorcycles were parked seven deep at the Massachusetts Cannabis
Reform Coalition's 16th Annual Freedom Rally, and uniformed and
undercover police trolled the crowd for marijuana smokers.

Puffs of smoke hovering over the crowd came mostly from cigarettes, but
police made 44 arrests, mostly for drug possession, although there were
some distribution charges. "There is no day off from the law today," said
Deputy Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald.

Turnout was smaller than in years past, when the event sometimes drew
crowds of 30,000 or 40,000, according to police.

Last year, Hurricane Ivan forced the event's cancellation, and this year,
Hurricane Ophelia nearly did. But the weather held, and several thousand
people were milling about by 2 p.m. yesterday, according to Keith Saunders,
president of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, or Mass Cann.

The theme of this year's rally was "Secure the Blessings of Liberty," which
Saunders described as a call to political action.

His group is backing a bill that is before the state Senate and would
impose a civil fine of $100 for possession of less than an ounce of
marijuana, rather than a criminal penalty. The Joint Committee on Mental
Health and Substance Abuse heard testimony on the bill in June but has not
taken action on it, Saunders said. Though a recent federal study found that
the Boston area is the nation's capital of marijuana use, only a handful
of people showed up to testify in favor of the bill, according to Mass Cann.

Saunders said that despite his support for decriminalization, he would not
encourage anyone to light up on the Common during the protest. "This is
probably the worst place in the city of Boston to be smoking marijuana," he
said.

Some were unfazed, though.

Wayne Burke, a 53-year-old retired painter, placidly shared a joint on the
lawn with two younger friends, Matt Duszak, 19, and Kevin Woods, 20. The
three drove to Boston together from Worcester to attend the rally. "When
we're done smoking this bone, we're not going to go rob somebody," Burke
said with a shrug. "We're going to go home and eat a sandwich and watch
TV." A pair of antidrug protesters wended their way through the legions of
youth in hooded sweatshirts and faux-cannabis leis yesterday. Lea Palleria
Cox of the Hanover-based Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention Inc. and
Bill Breault of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety in
Worcester, who have attended the rally for about a decade, said they were
appalled to find vendors selling ceramic pipes this year. They said they
were also dismayed to again see so many young people in the crowd.
"Parents have no clue," he said. "When their kid says 'I'm going to a
concert on the Common,' they have no idea what goes on here.