2 DOZEN BUSTED AT HEMPSTOCK

As Hempstock 2002 ended Sunday, about two dozen people faced a date with a
judge.

And one - a 17-year-old - was seeing a doctor.

That youth was treated at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for an
overdose of ecstasy and LSD, said a State Police spokesman.

The criminal charges "range from traffic violations to the selling of
ecstasy" added the spokesman, Steve McCausland.

Hempstock, an annual multi-day celebration of all things marijuana, has
been staged for about a decade at Harry Brown's farm, which sits on a dirt
road off of Route 43. The event is organized by Maine Vocals, a group
advocating legalization of marijuana.

This year, Starks refused to grant a permit for the festival, which ran for
four days starting Thursday. Without that mass-gathering permit, organizers
had to stop the music every so often and ask people to leave the farm, then
return in a few minutes to resume partying.

That partying had to stop by 10 p.m., though, to prevent police from
shutting the event down.

Kennebec and Somerset County District Attorney David Crook had said earlier
that people living in the rural community "have a right to a good night's
sleep."

Police, led by a contingent of about 10 state troopers, maintained a
24-hour-a-day vigil over the town, making certain that events at the farm
didn't spill out onto the streets, and making certain that things at the
farm didn't get out of hand.

Besides the troopers, McCausland said Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement
officers were on hand and agents assigned to the Maine Drug Enforcement
Agency were prowling the festival grounds. LSD and ecstasy, another
hallucinogenic drug, were confiscated, McCausland said.

And on Sunday, Crook's office issued three search warrants aimed at vendors
who were selling pipes and bongs used to smoke marijuana. The devices are
considered drug paraphernalia. Several were confiscated by police who
served the warrants, McCausland said.

He said it would be up to Crook to decide if he wants to press charges in
those cases.

Earlier during the festival, a motorist "bumped" a state trooper who was
stationed at a roadblock on Route 43 near the entrance to Brown's farm.

The driver was described as being irate over being stopped. The man, whose
name wasn't immediately available, was arrested. McCausland said the
trooper wasn't seriously injured and continued working at the roadblock.