International Cannabis Coalition (UK)

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Global Cannabis Action Sat MAY 4, 2002 MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH: 192 CITIES

 

Latest reports (updated Sun 5th May 2002)
also see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction/messages

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• BRUXELLES

Pictures of the Transnational Radical Party and Radicaux.be demonstration in front of the Belgian Health Ministry that took place today (3 may 2002), at 1 pm, asking for legalisation of drugs, and notably for cannabis legalisation and heroin prescription. Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Member of the European Parliament, took part in the demonstration. Militants carry posters that show a Belgian medical form for drugs prescription, where the TRP has "prescribed" to the Government drugs such as heroin and cannabis, and ask for their legalisation.

Pictures at: http://www.radicalparty.org/basket-photos/020503

More pictures on www.radicalparty.org and www.radicali.it

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• DUBLIN

Report at: http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=3167

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• LONDON -

THOUSANDS MARCH IN BRITAIN FOR LEGAL CANNABIS
Reuters (Wire)

Thousands of pro-cannabis demonstrators held peaceful marches in Britain's largest cities on Saturday before letting their hair down at a series of outdoor parties, picnics and festivals.
The marches in London, Manchester and Birmingham to push for the legalisation of cannabis were part of almost 200 similar events planned around the world this weekend under the name of the "Million Marijuana March."
"The march is to protest for legalisation and the festival is a celebration of cannabis," said Shane Collins, licensee for the Cannabis Carnival in Brixton, south London.
Collins estimated the British cannabis trade to be worth six billion pounds a year, adding it provided thousands of Britons with jobs.
"We want to put the profits from that into where they are needed -- youth services and residential rehab," he told the BBC.
A police spokeswoman said they did not have a estimate of crowd numbers but said the marches were trouble free and the crowds had dispersed by early evening.
The marches came as the government contemplated downgrading cannabis to class C, the least serious drug category, and as police around the country review their approach to the drug.
The "softly, softly" approach to cannabis was this week endorsed by Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers.
The London march ended up in the suburb of Brixton, which is the scene of a police experiment on cautioning rather than arresting cannabis smokers, an approach pioneered by controversial police chief Brian Paddick.
Paddick -- Britain's highest ranking openly gay officer -- is being investigated by the Police Complaints Authority over allegations he regularly smoked cannabis with former lover James Renolleau.
A poll last month for Britain's Observer newspaper said 51 percent of the nation's 16- to 24-year-olds had taken banned drugs, while five million people regularly use cannabis.
Before the march, Collins said the protest was not aimed at promoting the drug to teenagers. "We don't want more youths smoking it," he said. "It's good for writing, but it's not conducive to studying. And anyway, smoking too much of it can turn you into a very boring person."

www.cannabiscoalition.org
London pictures

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• MANCHESTER

Hundreds march for cannabis legalisation
BBC News UK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1967000/1967690.stm

More than 600 people have taken part in a march in Manchester to support the legalisation of cannabis.

The event on Saturday was designed to mark World Cannabis Action Day and was mirrored around the world, billed as the Million Marijuana March.
Police presence was strong partly because many more people had been expected to join the event.
They said that if they saw protesters smoking the drug they would not arrest them, but would instead quietly ask them to stop.

Cannabis Industry

The march held up traffic in the city centre but there was no trouble or arrests. The protesters converged on Whitworth Park, where there was music and entertainment.
Many people were there to support Colin Davies, the Stockport cannabis cafe owner who is currently on remand in prison.
Jonjo Nally, of the Manchester Cannabis Coalition, said they also wanted to draw attention to the other uses of cannabis, including for medicine and hemp clothing.
"We want to show that there is an industry that can be born from this," he said.
Marches are expected to take place in more than 30 other countries including the US, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and France.

Lambeth Experiment

A similar march was held in the London borough of Lambeth, where police have been pioneering a "softly, softly" approach to cannabis.
Those found with small amounts of cannabis may be warned and have their drug confiscated, but they will not face arrest.
The government has recently said it was "minded" to downgrade cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug. If it did so, users could be free to smoke it in public without fear of arrest.
But the Million Marijuana March organisers say this would not be enough. Its website says: "The recent progress towards de facto decriminalisation in Britain is to be welcomed but is clearly not the full solution. "Only a complete, total lifting of prohibition will do. Anything less is simply a half-way house which fails to protect the public."

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• HULL -

HULL'S MARIJUANA MISSIONARY

BBCi Humber Meets Carl Wagner, The Man At The Centre Of Hull's Herb-Smoking Scandal
Carl Wagner has a vision. To open the city's first cannabis cafe and see all criminal association with the plant go up in smoke.
The owner of the Divine Herb stall in Hull's indoor market is a man on a marijuana mission. As he chats, the free-flowing customers come and go and his phone rings incessantly.
Having already spoken to 'The Guardian' and 'The Yorkshire Post', he deals with press interest with seeming ease.

BBci: http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/features/cannabis_man/carl_wagner.shtml

Report from the organiser Carl Wagner: Arrived at Queens Gardens around 12.30 to pockets of tokers and several members of the press, and was informed by Chief Inspector Stafford that anybody openly flouting the law would be arrested. 5 minutes later, I lit a spliff while being interviewed by Radio Humberside, which caused a bit of a photo flurry, and seemed to annoy the interviewer because as soon as the interview was over he promptly grassed me up! The police ignored it. The march started 300-400 strong and seemed to grow by the time it reached the park, and by 3.00pm there was around a thousand people peacefully smoking, despite a chilly wind. I was personally disappointed with the turn out but the quality made up for quantity. My grateful thanks go to 'Spin Barnard' for support throughout a hectic week, and especially to Mark and Lezley Gibson and John and Anne-Marie Peacock for dragging all the way from Carlisle, despite being unwell, to offer support, and just for being bloody good friends. Thanks to all those who turned up or helped in anyway - 5000 next year. I could get a live radio debate on Humberside, and the HDM are meeting myself and several medi-users next monday so the issue should be at the forefront for a while yet. Despite a lower turnout than I'd hoped, the week has been a massive publicity success and I'm well chuffed. Carl

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• PRAGUE, Czech Republic
AP (Associated Press) report

About 1,000 people gathered Saturday in a central Prague park to support the legalization of marijuana.
Michal Polak, spokesman for the rally's organizers, said they sought a change in Czech legislation that would put marijuana on a par with alcohol and tobacco. Now, illegal possession and distribution of narcotics is punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
Polak said the rally participants did not want to encourage people to consume or distribute drugs, but were expressing criticism of the Czech penal code, which does not distinguish between hard and so-called "soft" drugs.
"To grow the plant should not be prohibited by law," Polak said.
In 2000, an estimated 25 tons of cannabis was consumed in the Czech Republic, according to an estimate by the national Statistical Institute. Similar gatherings took place in two other Czech cities, Plzen and Brno, Polak said.

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• TEL AVIV, Israel

The Green Leaf Party held yesterday its 3rd annual picnic for the liberation of Cannabis, for human rights and peace. Atleast 4000 people attended the largest party organized by the Green Leaf Party in Hayarkon Park, Tel Aviv. Music, joy and happiness were all present at a time in Israeli history that is depressing and joyless . The police came and left and we thank them for that. We also called for the first time publicly to end occupation now, to stop Palestinian terror and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel to live in peace with each other. 

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• NEW YORK
Proponents Of Marijuana Stage Protest
By THOMAS J. LUECK. New York Times May 5th 2002.

An annual rite of protest by marijuana advocates resulted in 148 arrests yesterday as several thousand people gathered in Lower Manhattan for a march and rally.

The police said the demonstration, billed by its organizers as 'Million Marijuana March 2002', was peaceful. All arrests were for possession or use of marijuana, according to Officer Guy Braun, a police spokesman.
The crowd, which began gathering shortly after 1 p.m. at Houston Street and Broadway, grew to about 6,000 as it made its way down a single lane of Broadway to Battery Park, according to participants and some observers.
The police declined to estimate the size of the crowd.
Although similar rallies have been staged for years in Manhattan, the one yesterday may have struck a nerve at City Hall, since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was prompted last month to say he regretted having mentioned in a interview that he had once tried marijuana and enjoyed it.
That remark, along with a photograph of the mayor, has been used in advertising by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, even though Mr. Bloomberg says he favors rigorous enforcement of marijuana laws.
The police deployed hundreds of officers at the rally and apparently had rigorous enforcement in mind, since many plainclothes officers were among the marchers. Repeatedly, officers led away individuals and groups of protesters who were seen smoking marijuana.
As the crowd moved slowly down Broadway, some protesters chanted Bloomberg smokes pot" as they passed City Hall Park. By 4 p.m., most of the group had reached Battery Park, where they listened to music and speeches by people calling for decriminalization of marijuana.
Although most demonstrators were in their teens or 20's, several were veterans of such protests. "We won't stop marching until they legalize marijuana," said David Peel, an East Village musician in his 40's.
The rally ended at 6 p.m. when a column of over 200 police officers walked across Battery Park, forcing everyone to leave.

• Independent report & pictures by www.drugwar.com: http://www.drugwar.com/pmmmstealthyarrests.shtm

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"America's drug war is so stupid that if you pay close attention to just how stupid it is -- it'll drive you to use drugs." Jim Hightower

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• LANSING, Michigan

MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS PUSH FOR LEGALIZATION
March, Rally Aim To Educate People On Herb's Benefits

Renee Emry Wolfe stood on the Capitol steps Saturday and spoke to about 100 people rallying for the legalization of marijuana. Wolfe, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 23 years ago, said smoking marijuana is the only reason she can stand at all. "I can only get out of this wheelchair because I smoke the herb," said Wolfe, an Ann Arbor resident. "It's my medicine."
Lansing was one of five cities in Michigan and 190 around the world that participated in the Million Marijuana March, held each year on the first Saturday in May.
Supporters from across the state, from toddlers to grandparents, marched from Oldsmobile Park to the Capitol holding signs that read "Cannabis reform" and "Legalize freedom" while chanting "Free the weed" and "Prohibition has got to go."
The main focus of the march and rally was to educate people on the good marijuana can do and myths against it, said Kathy Kennedy, a member of march organizer Cures Not Wars.
Pro-marijuana lobbyists say the herb can stop the progress of glaucoma and improve quality of life for people with various diseases, including AIDS, cancer and epilepsy. They say it can even help alcohol, cigarette and narcotics users get over their addictions.
Kennedy said as soon as the mainstream public realizes those positives, legalization will be within reach.
"I really do feel like it will happen in the next 10 years," said Kennedy, an Onondaga resident. "I never thought it would happen. But now people are entering the job stream who grew up with marijuana and they know the laws aren't working."
George Sherfield, state coordinator for Michigan Marijuana Movement, said hemp products and the medical use of marijuana has been legalized in Canada, and that possession laws in England also have been relaxed.
He's hoping American lawmakers will follow their lead. "We love this country more than anybody," Sherfield said. "We're not criminal - we're just pot smokers."
Sherfield's organization has drafted an amendment it hopes to get on the Michigan ballot in 2004.
Two previous attempts to get the proposal on the ballot have failed.
The proposal includes medical use of marijuana under a doctor's care; the right to establish farms to produce nonintoxicating hemp used for paint, clothing and food; and to legalize marijuana use for people 21 and older, in their own homes and away from kids.
Donna Paridee of New Baltimore attended the rally with her husband and two young sons.
She said marijuana being illegal is no different than the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s.
"I support freedom in America," she said. "I just like to smoke pot."

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• NIMBIN, Australia

It is as impossible to guesstimate the size of the roll up for the 2002 Nimbin MMMMarch as it is to guesstimate the total inhalance of cannabis during the MardiGrass Protestival, but every number I have heard so far is in excess of 4 and 20 thousand cannabists! As usual in Nimbin, we din't march in a straight line, in fact, truth be told, we din't actually march at all, not much point even trying really, I mean even attempting to marshal the entire MardiGrass crowd to march from point A - via point B -to point C would be harder than herding 420 black cats at midnight and so, we decidedto ask the entire crowd (via the loud speakers) to take one step forward, then three steps back, two steps forward and then one step back (a little semi-dance step thing we call the 'real pace' of cannabis law reform) which of course resulted in as much confusion as marshalling a march or changing an illogical law, point is that thousands upon thousands of people come together every year in Nimbin for exactly the same reason. To call for an End to Cannabis Prohibition.

http://www.nimbinaustralia.com/mardigrass2002/mmmarch.html

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• SAN FRANCISCO
notes by SUN http://pages.prodigy.net/seniornude

In warm sun, a band plays "We want to grow the plant that can save the world!" People dance wildly, some with skill, some with redeeming social glee. Then they chant "FOR POT PEACE!". Then the best dancer gets dressed again, and hands out leaflets. Between dance bands, one lone flamenco guitarist weaves magic mirages in the air. The crowd gives a hero's welcome to San Francisco city supervisor (councilmember) Mark Leno, most effective local advocate for medical marijuana, soon moving up to the California state legislature. Organizers announce a picket at the Hall of Justice (local criminal courts), for Monday, May 6, at noon.
This large festival, stretching thru a block-long pedestrian mall, offers three stages, presenting different flavors of entertainment, so it's almost three festivals.
The diverse crowds unite around 4:20 pm, to march around a downtown tourist and shopping district, then circle back. Very few marchers carry signs, but many wear garlands of silk leaves resembling cannabis. As at most S.F. pickets, the intergalactic-conspiracy man and the senior nudist promote their obscure causes, politely tolerated by ultramellow "cannabists". By the time we return to United Nations Plaza, so has San Francisco's typical fog.