FALLS TOUTED AS POT CAPITAL

Activists Urge Legalized Farming

IT'S NO pipe dream for Matt Mernagh -- the pot enthusiast envisions a
thriving and legal Niagara marijuana industry to rival the region's
wineries. "This is a farming community, so let's make our farmers some
money," Mernagh said.

"You can't make too much money off cucumbers, but you can make a lot off
marijuana."

Mernagh, 31, will stress that point during today's Hwy. 420 Cannabis
Conference in Niagara Falls.

The activist expects at least 500 people to show up for the rally, which
will see the marchers descend on tourist mecca Clifton Hill this afternoon.

Today's event -- billed as A Day of Education, A Day of Fun and A Day of
Action -- is intended to "roll back the recent hysteria" surrounding drug
laws in both Canada and the U.S.

Noted marijuana advocates, including U.S. Marijuana Party president Loretta
Nall and Vancouver-based activist David Malmo-Levine, will speak at a
morning conference at the Niagara Falls Public Library before gathering for
the march at 3:15 at Victoria Ave. and Hwy. 420.

The aptly named Hwy. 420 -- the main highway into the Falls -- also refers
to weed in stoner parlance, much to the delight of Niagara-based tokers.

Mernagh, who lives in St. Catharines, hopes to one day see a regulated
marijuana market, with pot controlled by an LCBO-like body called the CCBO
(Cannabis Control Board of Ontario), he said.

"We do great work down here. This is the perfect soil," said Mernagh, who
suffers from osteoarthritis and smokes pot to ease the pain. He says a
legalized marijuana trade would drive out gangsters.

"Let's get the grow-ops out of the suburbs and bring them into Niagara's
greenhouses," Mernagh said, adding the grow house operators "don't
represent the marijuana community.

"Al Capone went out of business when prohibition fell."