A SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR MARIJUANA

NATICK -- In November, thousands of voters across the state will face
ballot questions involving marijuana, and one local candidate is
doing his best to educate people on the matter.

Jim Pillsbury, a Framingham resident and candidate for state
representative, hosted an hour-long cable access show about benefits
of hemp and the drawbacks to "prohibition."

"In the age of terrorism and homeland security, the government is
spending money to fly planes over fields to look out for a plant that
has been around for centuries," said Pillsbury, who taped the show in
Natick's Pegasus studio Thursday night. "It doesn't make sense."

The program included a fashion show with garments from Jon Napoli's
The Hempest on Newbury Street in Boston and discussions on
decriminalization efforts with Whitney Taylor from the Massachusetts
Drug Policy Forum and Steven Epstein from Massachusetts Canabis Reform.

The two organizations have pushed to place questions on the ballot
across Massachusetts.

"We need to keep reminding people our marijuana laws are still as
ridiculous as they've ever been," Taylor said.

Two of the ballot questions ask voters in two state Senate districts
and five House districts if they support making marijuana possession
a civil violation instead of a crime.

Voters represented by state Rep. James Vallee, D-Franklin, and state
Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, are among those who would be asked
whether the state should decriminalize the drug.

A third question, meanwhile, asks voters in four House districts if
"seriously ill patients" should be allowed to grow and possess
marijuana for medicinal purposes.

This fall, Pillsbury will challenge state Rep. Deborah Blumer as a
write-in candidate, since he failed to file necessary papers with
Secretary of State William Galvin's office.

Pillsbury was defeated by Blumer in 2002 for the 6th Middlesex
District seat. Framingham Republican and Holy Cross Professor Nicolas
Sanchez and Framingham resident Gerald Bloomfield, an independent
candidate, will appear on the ballot as Blumer's opponents.

Pillsbury said the marijuana question is one he'll raise on the
campaign trail, citing a 2000 ballot question in which 67 percent of
voters in the 6th Middlesex District said possession of marijuana
should be a civil infraction.

"It's the essence of the will of the voter. If that ballot question
didn't have such overwhelming support, I probably wouldn't still be
talking about this today. But people care," Pillsbury said. "I think
we're on the right track."

Pillsbury said he has not decided whether to sue the town of Natick
for denying a request to tape his show on the town common. Pillsbury
does not have insurance the town requires for a Natick Common event.

"I've got other things to focus on, like the campaign," he said. "But
it's a crazy world and we'll see what happens.

Town officials said the requirement, an insurance policy which
releases the town from any liability, is standard.

The issue is not new to Pillsbury, founder of a group which sued
Ashland in May 2002, after the town required $1.5 million in liability
insurance for an event to be held at Stone Park. The town eventually
settled with Pillsbury's National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws.

"Yes, we should be in (Natick's) gazebo perhaps by the time I'm 55 or
56," joked Pillsbury, 51.