cannabisnews.com: Hub Police Brace for Marijuana Rally on Common





Hub Police Brace for Marijuana Rally on Common
Posted by FoM on September 16, 2000 at 06:47:22 PT
By Marie Szaniszlo 
Source: Boston Herald
Boston police will be out in force today as thousands of people descend on Boston Common for the 11th annual rally supporting the legalization of marijuana. For security reasons, police declined to say yesterday exactly how many officers have been assigned to the six-hour demonstration, which kicks off at noon.But spokesman Kevin Jones said, ``We'll be out in force. And I'm sure there will be arrests.'' There were last year, and one of them nearly proved fatal.
In an incident organizers called ``extremely atypical,'' a 19-year-old New Hampshire man who was about to be booked for marijuana possession pulled a fully loaded 9mm pistol out of his pocket. Sgt. Dan Linskey lunged forward in time to jam his finger in the trigger guard, as other officers tackled Kevin Lavalliere to the ground.Lavalliere was one of some 70 people arrested at last year's rally, which drew about 40,000 people in support of a referendum to try to get marijuana possession reduced from a criminal to a civil offense and legalize the use of pot for health reasons. Mass Cann spokesman Steven Epstein said the ultimate goal is to ``end the war on drug users, expose the corruption of current drug policy and take the government to task for its cruel and unusual punishment of marijuana offenders,'' a claim their opponents openly deride.``I'm all for freedom of speech, but freedom of speech does not involve breaking the law,'' said Lea Palleria Cox, president of Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention, based in Hanover. ``The sad part is so many kids are lured into thinking this is a harmless drug.''Cox accused the city of not doing enough to stop people from smoking pot at the rally. But city Parks Chief of Staff Don King said it hasn't been for lack of trying.``We've argued our case, and two different judges have told us we can't bar them from demonstrating,'' King said yesterday. ``The test is how well we manage it.''The city has managed to get some concessions, including an agreement that organizers will confine the rally to only one section of the Common, and refrain from encouraging youngsters to light up.``This has nothing to do with getting young people interested,'' Epstein said.This year, Mass Cann will register people to vote, and speakers will include Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne, Aimee Smith of the Massachusetts Green Party and Carla Howell, Libertarian Senate candidate.Published: Saturday, September 16, 2000Source: Boston Herald (MA)Copyright: 2000 The Boston Herald, Inc.Contact: letterstoeditor bostonherald.comAddress: One Herald Square, Boston, MA 02106-2096Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:MassCannhttp://www.masscann.org/The Green Partyhttp://www.greenparty.org./Pot Smokers To Protest in Defiance on Common http://cannabisnews.com/news/2/thread2931.shtml10th Annual Freedom Rally & Initiative Kick-Off http://cannabisnews.com/news/2/thread2853.shtml 
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