SOCIOLOGIST ENDORSES USE OF MARIJUANA

Pot Backer Decries Law Enforcement Cost

WORCESTER- Money and resources are being depleted when more than 500,000
people a year are arrested on marijuana-related charges, according to a
sociologist who supports the legalization of the drug.

Keith Saunders, who is on the board of Directors of Massachusetts Cannabis
Reform Coalition, said yesterday that people support medical marijuana more
than voters supported President Bush and his opponent, Al Gore.

Mr. Saunders was one of several speakers at the Global Cannabis Liberation
Day Concert and Political Rally held at Green Hill Park from noon to 6 p.m.
More than 50 people went to see several music bands perform, with guest
speakers stepping in between sets.

Mr. Saunders, who teaches at Northeastern University in Boston, said that
marijuana users have been set out to be violent and criminals.

"This is a social, public health issue," he said. "They are not criminals.
The sick need mercy."

Mr. Saunders said that every year more than 500,000 people are arrested for
possession of marijuana which is less than an ounce.

"If it was legalized, it would go back into the culture," Mr. Saunders
said, as children riding their bikes paused to listen, "back into the
mundanity of everyday life."

In 2001, according to national statistics, 724,000 people were arrested for
marijuana offenses, with 50,000 going to prison. The U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration states that marijuana may be the nation's largest cash crop,
surpassing corn, or maize, which produces about $19 billion in revenue.

Mr. Saunders stated that when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980,
he created a generation gap with the antidrugs message. Mr. Saunders said
that politicians, including President Clinton, Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush,
should admit that they know many of their constituents smoke marijuana.

There are estimates that 3 million Americans grow marijuana - mostly for
their use. However, 100,000 to 200,000 people are estimated to grow it for
business, according to a Department of Justice Web site.

But many of the supporters for the legalization are not users. Many
supporters look at it from a constitutional standpoint.

Jillian Ivey, 25, of Boston, a member of MassCann, said that she was not "a
huge pot smoker," but wanted to help the effort of legalization.

"I supported the legalization since I was 17," she said yesterday. "In
college, my senior thesis was on marijuana, the constitutional research
related to marijuana."

Yakov Kronrod of Worcester was one of the local organizers. He said that he
got involved in the pro-hemp cause at WPI, where he organized the
first-ever hemp and freedom rally. He said that his WPI classmate Yuko Oku,
who helped organize the rally, is starting a student organization.

"There are students interested in this from several of the local colleges,"
he said. "I wasn't in this because I smoke. I was in it to help."

More than 50 people were at the rally. Some were wearing T-shirts, which
read: "D.A.R.E. to Legitimize. Drug awakening, reeducation and
enlightenment." There were old and young and in-between at Green Hill Park.

The event was sponsored by the MetroWest National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Legalization.

Among several speakers were Ronal C. Madnick, of the Worcester Chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union, and Jeanne "Grandma for Ganja"
Ferguson, an activist and on the board of directors of Massachusetts Cannabis.