MARIJUANA-MARCH SITE CRITICIZED

RAPID CITY -- The parade permit is approved, and promotional literature has
hit the halls and lockers of high schools in the region. The Million
Marijuana March is scheduled to begin in front of Dakota Middle School in
Rapid City at 4:20 p.m. Saturday, May 4.

School officials are distressed. There's not much they can do, however,
except confiscate the literature as fast as it appears on school property.

"It's disturbing," Mike Butts, an assistant principal at Rapid City Central
High School, said. A few flyers announcing the march were found on the
floor at the school.

"I'm not sure how it came to happen," he said, referring to the march's
starting point at Sixth and Columbus streets.

The Rapid City Police Department granted SoDakNORML a permit to conduct the
march. Police Lt. Richard Gilbert said the group has a constitutional right
to hold the march. "We can't abridge that right. We can only refuse (a
parade permit) if there is a public-safety issue."

Gilbert said the march's organizers were asked to stay off school property.

Brad Tucker, principal at Dakota, says flyers have not surfaced at his
school but that he did receive faxed copies from Hill City and Stevens high
schools. "It's scheduled on a Saturday, which is good," he said.

Literature announcing the march promotes it as an international event
occurring in more than 160 cities to support reforming marijuana laws.
SoDakNORML, an affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML), is organizing the local march.

Bob Newland of Hermosa, SoDakNORML's president, said identifying the march
with the school was not intentional.

"It has nothing to do with the school," he said. The school sits at the
head of Sixth Street, which allows a convenient straight route for the
march, according to Newland. The march concludes at Memorial Park, where a
post-march concert/jam is scheduled, he said.

Newland said SoDakNORML advocates allowing U.S. farmers to produce hemp;
allowing sick, disabled and dying people to use cannabis; and allowing
people to ingest cannabis in their homes without being jailed or fined.

Pam Teaney-Thomas, the Rapid City School District's Safe and Drug Free
Schools coordinator, says she doubts Newland's claim about the march's
starting point. "If this was really a march for medical or agricultural,
why wouldn't they be starting at a medical facility or an agricultural site?"

Youths today are getting a mixed message about the safety of marijuana,
Teaney-Thomas said. When they perceive it has a medical benefit, it reduces
their concern about its use. "They're using the kids just to get it legalized."

"Kids high school age feel strongly about standing up for rights," Butts
agreed. "They perceive it as a legal issue."

Butts said he understands how students get involved when medical and
industrial use of marijuana is promoted. "The literature I've seen says
nothing about it being an illegal substance."

Newland said he was not concerned about students distributing advertising
for the march. "High school students should be distributing literature
about the Million Marijuana March. They're the people most at risk from the
current insane governmental policies."

He said marijuana is more readily available to high school students than
alcohol. Newland claims that legalizing marijuana would remove students
from the risks associated with procuring the product.

"Current drug policy provides huge profits to those who dare to take the
risks of providing cannabis to anyone who will purchase it. Since there is
no governmental oversight, cannabis dealers -- who often deal in other
illicit drugs as well -- are available all the time, everywhere."

Law enforcement officials disagree with Newland's assessment of marijuana
use among juveniles. According to Sgt. Doug Thrash and Sgt. Deb Cady of the
police department's drug unit, 10 times more juveniles are arrested for
using alcohol than marijuana.

An event such as Saturday's march is a good time for parents to discuss
drugs with their children, Teaney-Thomas said. "This is a perfect
opportunity to check where they are at and what they're doing and why."

"People need to be aware that the issue and the people who are promoting
this march are wolves in hemp clothing."