Tens of thousands rally for marijuana reform in Boston

Suffolk U., Boston, MA, Sep 24, 2009 (The Suffolk Journal/UWire via COMTEX) --
MJNA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- An estimated 30 thousand people crowded the Boston Common on Saturday
for the 20th annual Boston Freedom Rally--colloquially known as
Hemp Fest--to support the reform of marijuana laws in the United States
and to celebrate its decriminalization in Massachusetts.
The Suffolk University chapter of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) was involved in promoting the rally.

"Suffolk NORML is the most active campus chapter in Boston and is also
one of the youngest," said Scott Gacek, who is on the board of
directors for the Mass. Cannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann), the Mass.
chapter of NORML.

"We were a really big part of [the freedom rally]," said Jeff Morris,
president of SUNORML. "We worked with MassCann all summer and went all
over the city handing out fliers to Northeastern, BU, Emerson, and we
probably got a couple of kids out to B.C."

SUNORML, which was formed last year, has about one thousand members, which, according to Morris, is bigger than MassCann.

As bands performed and speakers riled the crowd, the tens of thousands
of spectators sat on the grass of the Common, smoking marijuana,
relishing in the fact that they could not be arrested for doing so,
since marijuana was decriminalized last November. As soon as it turned
4:20 p.m., a colossal cloud of smoke filled the air.

Only three arrests were made for distribution of marijuana and 136 tickets were issued for possession by the Boston Police.

"The only bad thing [about the rally] were the undercover police
officers who were randomly searching people," said Morris, "but for the
most part it went really well. At least 10 kids came up to me after I
spoke and asked how they could start a NORML chapter and my inbox has
been flooded with e-mails."

"Everyone has their cause," said Bob Bowser, lead singer of the band
Keep Me Conscious. "I'm glad we can be here and play for people that
feel so strongly about something."

"Boston and Massachusetts are inspirational with decriminalization," said Chris
Goldstein, Director of NORML N.J., who is hoping for a medical
marijuana bill to be passed in N. J. and Penn. "There's nothing bigger
or more inspiring than this event for marijuana reform."

According to Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a speaker at the event, a Harvard
professor of psychology (emeritus) and author of Marijuana Uses and
Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine; marijuana is "a remarkably safe
drug. It's a good recreational drug, a great medical drug, and a great
enhancer of personal experiences."

"There has yet to be a conclusive study that [marijuana] does anything
harmful," said Gacek, who first went to the Boston Freedom Rally in
1994, as a senior in high school. When home on break from Ithaca
College in 1996, Gacek was arrested for marijuana possession. "I was
arrested for half a joint and I lost all my financial aid."

After taking a semester off, Gacek returned to college at UMASS
Dartmouth where he worked three jobs for sixty hours per week to pay
for school. "I had a payment plan where every Friday I had to go to the
Bursar's Office and pay my bill or I couldn't attend classes the next
week."

This prompted Gacek to become an advocate for the reform of marijuana
laws while he attended UMASS Dartmouth. "I was a victim of this law and
I don't want anyone else to go through that."

Gacek argued that many legal substances like prescription pills and
alcohol are more dangerous than marijuana. "I could kill myself from
alcohol poisoning, but how come I can't come home from a long day of
work as a responsible adult and smoke [marijuana]?" Gacek said he is
advocating "responsible use for responsible adults."

Gacek addressed a more pressing matter to him, the legalization of
medical marijuana, so that people who are suffering can get relief from
cannabis. Gacek referred to two friends he lost to cancer as well as
someone he knew that was given six months to live five years ago.

"She had a brain tumor and nothing the doctors used helped it go
downAc€A she had stopped smoking marijuana for her job, but started
smoking heavily after she was diagnosed with tumor, and her pain went
away and the tumor stopped growing. She believes that weed stopped it
from growing."

"The government does not have the right to keep [medical marijuana]
away from us," said Ms. New Jersey 2006, Georgine DiMaria, who was
diagnosed with severe asthma at age five.

DiMaria has been an advocate for the American Lung Association and made
her advocacy for medical marijuana public on April 20, 2009 (4/20).
"I'm here for patient's rights. [Medical marijuana] could possibly save
lives and it's a miracle drug to most of us. We have to fight the
legality of it and it's not fair."

Gacek said that one of his short term goals is to have the Mass.
legislature pass House bill 2160, The Mass. Medical Marijuana Act,
which is modeled after legislation already implemented in Rhode Island.


The bill has already been defeated five times previously, and if it
fails again, Gacek and MassCann plan to get their own bill on the 2012
ballot, which would be more similar to California medical marijuana
laws that make it easy to obtain medical marijuana.

"If [House 2120] doesn't pass, we will get enough signatures for our
own version of the bill and it will pass. We'll make [marijuana] de
facto legalized. The government is overlooking one of the most basic
forms of medicine."

Although Gacek is currently focusing on the legalization of medical
marijuana, he hopes eventually for "full blown legalization that's
regulated, taxed, and controlled."

"If you look at California, the Department of Revenue collects millions of dollars in income tax from cannabis dispensary."

Gacek argued that jobs would be created and the government would make
money from the marijuana taxes, and noted that legalizing marijuana
would also lead to the production of hemp, which would help suffering
farmers thrive and be good for the economy because of all the materials
that could be made from hemp.

"[Legalizing marijuana] would free up resources from the police department and drug dealers would now be unemployed."

Now that the Freedom Rally is over, Gacek and the other people involved
with planning the rally will take a month off before planning next
year's rally, which is scheduled for September 18, 2010.

http://media.www.suffolkjournal.net/media/storage/paper632/news/2009/09/23/News/Boston.Common.Goes.Up.In.Smoke-3780682.shtml

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