HIGH TIMES OR HIGH CRIMES?

Fredericksburg Resident Among Those Rallying for Reform of Marijuana
Laws.

Tom Aylesworth said the stupidest thing he ever did was also the most
cathartic. It was five years ago, and a casual friend had gone to
Southeast D.C. to buy a small amount of marijuana.

Dana Griffin got caught between rival gang gunfire, and a shotgun
blast left him dead. Aylesworth was outraged. "I was like, 'This is
friggin' ridiculous!' He was going to buy some pot and got shot in the
chest and died."

The next day, Aylesworth decided to "come out of the closet," a phrase
he uses to equate private drug-users with homosexuals who go public.

He fired off an e-mail to everyone in his address book: his parents,
his in-laws, his friends, his co-workers.

The marijuana laws are unjust, and "by the way, I've been smoking pot
since I was 15," he wrote.

"It was cathartic," said Aylesworth, 36, of Fredericksburg. "And I was
just tired of hiding it."

Besides sending the e-mail, Aylesworth called up the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He volunteered to run
the group's Web site.

No longer NORML's Webmaster, Aylesworth nonetheless was among a couple
of hundred folks who turned out for the group's national conference in
Washington over the weekend.

To be fair, plenty of groups highlight what they say are the harmful
effects of marijuana.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, for instance, notes that smoking
pot may lead to decreased memory and slower learning; increase a
smoker's risk of a heart attack; lead to respiratory illness; and
reduce the user's immune system, among other side affects.

Not surprisingly, those at the NORML conference came with very
different views.

The gathering included about 15 wheel-chair bound folks who want to
legalize marijuana to ease their medical conditions; dozens of college
students, including a busload of 40 who came up from six Florida
schools; dozens more older recreational users; and a smattering of
civil libertarians who believe banning pot violates Americans'
constitutional rights.

Each group hopes to benefit from the other.

"The medicinal issue is going to be the wedge issue," said Robert
Ablon, 34, of Oakland, Calif. He, himself, is a recreational user.

"We're going to force you to arrest cancer patients."

The NORML folks seemed to unnerve not only the hotel management, but
also young folks attending a nearby meeting of the Center for the
Study for the Presidency, designed to turn out tomorrow's leaders.

Besides NORML officers, others dropped by to address-and appeal
to-supporters of marijuana-law reform.

Gary Nolan, billed as the leading Libertarian Party candidate for
president, delivered such crowd-pleasing lines as:

"Like me, you would probably like to send the DEA to Guam" and "Let's
end this war on drugs!"

On Thursday, NORML members lobbied members of Congress to consider
easing marijuana laws.

A spokesman for Rep. Frank Wolf said members of his staff did meet
with a NORML member on Thursday, but that co-sponsoring any marijuana
reform laws isn't something high on the Virginia congressman's radar.

"It's too hypothetical to answer that," said Dan Scandling, a
spokesman for Wolf. "You don't know what it's going to look like and
in what form or anything like that," he said.

Back at the conference Friday, attendees perused booths where they
learned about NORML's "Cannabis Cruise" aboard the "SS Love."

They munched on chocolate-covered hemp pretzels.

And they met like-minded folks who came to pitch their own pet
causes.

Amanda Phillips, 31, of Burlington, Mass., is an accounting manager
for a company that manages nursing homes and extended-living facilities.

In her free time, she's also the president of a group called the Free
State Project, which advocates-among other issues-everyone's right to
smoke pot.

"This is my volunteer side show," she joked.

The group's goal is to persuade 20,000 people to move to New
Hampshire.

"The state motto is 'Live Free or Die,' " she pointed
out.

"We want to create a similar government with less infringement on all
aspects of people's lives," she said. "It's a chance to put my ideals
into action and to live what we believe."

Like Phillips, each person came with her own story.

Alex Franco, 25, of San Francisco has a career you won't find
advertised on monster com.

"I'm a cannabis provider," she explained.

Although it's illegal, she said, she feels compelled to ease the pain
of those who suffer from such ailments as cancer, AIDS and multiple
sclerosis.

"The most common misconception is that there's no benefit," she
said.

Franco suffers from degenerative disc disease and said legal pain
killers and muscle relaxers leave her unable to function. With pot,
she said, she can ease her pain and still lead a normal life.

Jim Miller's wife was once the country's most public face of medicinal
marijuana use.

Cheryl Miller, who had MS for 31 years, was perhaps best known for
eating marijuana in the office of U.S. Rep. Jim Rogan in March 1998.

Her husband continues to attend NORML conventions, where he's stopped
by other supporters of medicinal pot.

"This is why we do what we do," Miller said Friday.

Gary Stork, 49, of Madison, Wis., said he accidentally discovered the
benefits of marijuana as a teenager.

He was born with glaucoma and faced the possibility of losing his
sight.

He smoked pot before visiting a doctor in 1972 and realized his eyes
were in better shape than usual.

"I made the connection that day that I could save my eyesight," he
said. "I just turned 49 and I'm not blind, and I would have been if I
had not found marijuana."

Andrew Looney was 30 when he came home with a memo that shocked his
wife, Kristen. A NASA scientist, he had written down that he wanted to
try marijuana to see if it boosted his creativity.

"In school, I was such an anti-drug teetotaler that it's amazing I've
become the stoner that I am," said Looney, a couple of minutes after
smoking a joint in his hotel room.

Looney said his creativity and energy have soared since he started
using marijuana ten years ago.

He and his wife now run a successful game company, and Looney said
he's created his best work while high.

"Nancy Reagan cost me 10 years of being a stoner," he said very
seriously. "Think what I could have done with those 10 years?"

Aylesworth, the Fredericksburg resident, said the convention shatters
the stereotype that pot burns brain cells and endangers society.

He said he makes about $100,000 a year as a computer consultant.

"I'm a complete pothead and I have a good job," he said.

After he wrote his email in 1999, his wife's parents stopped talking
to them for about a year. Other than that, few people blinked.

"Everybody agrees with it, " Aylesworth said. "But they're afraid to
talk about it."