HARVEST FESTIVAL ALLOWS VOICE FOR MARIJUANA DEFENDERS

The annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival was held Saturday and
Sunday, attracting thousands of people to downtown Madison to inform the
public about why marijuana should be legalized.

This year's festival, the 31st annual, was clearly a success from the
standpoint of the event's organizers. Speakers, such as Elvy Musikka, Steve
Silverman and Valerie Gremillion spoke to large, receptive audiences,
inspiring debate and widespread intelligent discussion.

Lining a gate running through Library Mall were posters of incarcerated
families who had been part of marijuana conspiracies and sheets of
statistical research claiming to prove marijuana is a harmless drug.

Protesters of all ages stood earnestly next to the gates, with signs
bearing slogans like, "DEA are the real terrorists" and "Is my medicine
legal yet?"

Gary Storck, who proudly carried the latter sign, was born with glaucoma
and has been an unofficial patient of medicinal marijuana for his entire life.

"In 1979, my doctor said he would prescribe it for me the minute it became
legal to do so ... 23 years later, I'm still waiting," asserted Storck, who
is vice president and director of communications for an organization
entitled, Is My Medicine Legal Yet?

"Cannabis can save my eyesight," Storck maintained.

While certain people were protesting for strictly medicinal legality of
marijuana, many others, like Will Levin, were campaigning for completely
free use.

"It's a safe substance, and I see no reason it shouldn't be legal for all
uses," Levin declared.

Organizers believed all the information one would receive through posters,
word of mouth and personal testimony to the benefits of marijuana could
lead one to walk away from Harvest Fest with a different perspective on
marijuana.