CANNABIS RALLY HELD IN COLUMBIA FOR FIRST TIME

Columbia joined Barcelona, Dublin, Paris and more than 100 other cities
this weekend in holding a rally supporting the legalization of marijuana.

The MU chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy participated in the Global
Rally for Cannabis Liberation by holding a rally at Peace Park on Saturday.
The goal of the day's event was to get people together to talk about the
issues surrounding the cannabis plant, organizers said.

"The goal is to try and bring people together to talk about issues
surrounding the cannabis plant, all of the possible benefits that
industrial hemp could bring to people and to the environment as well," said
Amber Langston, vice president of MU NORML and SSDP.

Missouri NORML coordinator Dan Viets said the hidden agenda of the
international day of rallying was to legalize marijuana.

"There isn't any doubt about it, the international protests are certainly
intending to remove all penalties for responsible use of marijuana by
adults," Viets said.

One rally speaker was Peter Neinemeyer, who received a pardon from former
President Bill Clinton after he had been sentenced to 27 years in prison
for growing marijuana.

The past two years, this rally has been held in Jefferson City. However, it
was moved to Columbia this year in order to gain a larger response,
Langston said.

"We felt like we would have a stronger base of supporters if we had this
here in Columbia where we have the group working, and there's the campus
here," Langston said.

Some discussions at the rally centered around what serious crimes are.

"There are more violent crimes with alcohol than marijuana, and there is no
real reason to have marijuana criminalized," MU freshman Tony Luetkemeyer said.