HASH BASHERS KNOW WHERE THE LINE IS

Those Attending Hold Off on Lighting Up While on U-M Campus

When Mimi Broz drove up from Ohio for Saturday's 33rd annual Ann Arbor
Hash Bash, she came prepared. She brought a drum to beat while
shouting, "Pot is an herb! Bush is a dope!" She wore her Hash Bash hat
loaded with politically progressive pins. And she brought a marijuana
cigarette hidden inside a pack of Pall Malls.

But the joint was not smoked before its time.

Asked if she was going to light up on the University of Michigan Diag,
the 39-year-old activist said: "On campus? No, I'm not an idiot. In
the city? Maybe."

Possession of marijuana is a civil infraction with a $25 fine in the
city of Ann Arbor. But because the U-M regents receive their authority
from the state, the university's Department of Public Safety enforces
state law and university ordinances. Minimum punishment is a $100 fine
and/or 90 days in jail.

Event organizers urged the crowd of about 1,500 to go ahead and smoke
a joint as an act of civil disobedience, but to do so later, on city
property where participants could probably afford a $25 fine.

So most people smoked nicotine or nothing during the hour-long Hash
Bash in which speakers promoted the medicinal use of marijuana, urged
them to join the fight to legalize pot and reminded them that the
current administration is no friend of the cause.

Poet John Sinclair, a former Ann Arbor resident and 1960s activist,
reminded the crowd that in the early '70s, he helped elect candidates
to the city council who helped change the marijuana law.

"I'm very proud of having participated in this historic movement," he
said, before urging people to "register to vote, get together with
your friend, pick your targets, and topple them over."

"It's a good thing to remember that as a people, we have a lot of
power of our own. We have to exercise it."

The first Hash Bash was held after Sinclair's 1969 arrest and
imprisonment for possessing two marijuana joints. In past years, when
the city allowed more vendors for the day, the event was larger. But
it still brings significant revenue into the city for the day, said
Adam Brook, master of ceremonies and a former Ann Arbor resident.

"This is the most unadvertised underground event that happens anywhere
in the country," he said.

Marc Geordes of Chelsea hasn't smoked pot in more than a decade, but
supports the cause and likes to people-watch at the Hash Bash.

"I went through chemotherapy and had doctors and nurses offering me
pot the whole time," he said. "I never took any. I just lost interest.
But a lot of people in the medical community support it at least for
medicinal use. In my opinion, it's safer than alcohol. I've never
known anyone to get belligerent and out-of-control when they're stoned."

But the Partnership for a Drug-Free America says risks are associated
with marijuana use. They include short-term effects, such as problems
with memory and learning, trouble with thinking and problem solving,
loss of motor coordination, increased heart rate, and anxiety, the
organization's Web site says. The site also says marijuana smoke
contains the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

When the speeches ended Saturday, Broz led the march to Monroe Street,
where an afternoon of music, street vendors and smoking awaited. As
soon as she touched soil in the city's jurisdiction, she lit up,
passing the joint among friends as a long lunch and beer line formed
into Dominick's restaurant.

"In a free society, I should be able to light up as long as I'm not
infringing on anyone's rights," said Broz, 39. "Who am I hurting
standing here?"

Two people learned the hard way that possession of marijuana may be a
$25 civil infraction in Ann Arbor, but possession of larger amounts
may lead to arrest. The Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement
Team (LAWNET), a team headed by the Michigan State Police with members
from local police agencies, arrested the two during the Hash Bash for
possessing about a half pound of marijuana.

U-M's DPS arrested six people, including two U-M students, for
possession of marijuana and issued eight citations for sales and
solicitation and two citations for alcohol on the Diag, said
spokeswoman Diane Brown.

During last year's cold and rainy Hash Bash, when crowds were
significantly smaller, six people were arrested or received citations.
In the four previous years combined, 192 people were cited or arrested.

Before the Hash Bash, about 150 people gathered at the Federal
Building to protest the Labor Day weekend 2001 deaths of two Michigan
marijuana activists killed during a police siege of their Rainbow Farm
compound in Vandalia.

The crowd was urged to stay around until today, when a "Human Chain
for Peace" will form at 2 p.m. between Zingerman's Deli on Detroit
Street and Jerusalem Garden on Fifth Avenue. A peace party will follow
from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in West Park.