Cannabis News DrugSense
  Pot Freedom Fighters Fully Baked
Posted by CN Staff on May 06, 2002 at 09:06:47 PT
By David Graham, Staff Reporter  
Source: Toronto Star 

cannabis Dude, you forgot to book the square. Whaaat? You know, Nathan Phillips Square, for the pot parade on Saturday. One can only imagine the disjointed conversation that took place when organizers of Toronto's annual Million Marijuana March realized they had left it too late to book the space in front of City Hall for their demonstration.

While on Saturday, in 158 cities around the world millions of marijuana freedom fighters took to the streets to defend their rights to toke up, in Toronto 3,000 took to the streets yesterday, a day later.

As the parade time approached, march organizers urged people to get on their cellphones and remind their friends about the event. By 2 p.m. the crowd was fried and the brilliant overhead sun had nothing to do with it.

They carried cannabis leaf flags on bamboo sticks and wore T-shirts emblazoned with, "I am Cannabian." Many wore plastic marijuana leaf leis around their necks."

There were old stoners with bedraggled beards and red, half-opened eyes. There were "high" school kids like Larry who goes to Northern Secondary and Pat who goes to Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, both 16. Wearing psychedelic shirts and waving a matching poster that read simply "Smoke Pot," they said their parents are "cool with it."

While last year's parade reportedly attracted 7,000 protesters, there were hopes this year for 10,000. But that didn't happen. Only 3,000 demonstrators assembled at City Hall to march a circuitous route: Queen W. to Peter, Peter to Richmond, Richmond to Spadina, Spadina to Queen W.

"I know it's hard to organize yourself while you're baked," the marijuana party of Canada's Larry Duprey told the crowd before they set out for the march. "You've got to think about the traffic coming from the other direction," he urged. "Don't go into that lane of traffic," he repeated.

Police on bikes kept a distance and turned a blind eye as protesters rolled fatties and toked boldly.

A handful of booths set up in the square purveyed all varieties of cannabis-related paraphernalia from pipes and rolling boards ($10) to clothing and even hemp tortilla chips.

Christeen Urquhart, 24, who operates Christeen's Happy Hemp stand at the new Hazelton Lanes Market, set up a booth at Nathan Phillips Square yesterday to sell her line of hemp seed oil soaps and body products and fashion items.

"I worked on a paper while I was studying at McMaster University and I was so impressed with the versatility of hemp that I started this little business," she said.

As well, there were protesters such as Neev Tapiero from CALM (Cannabis As Living Medicine) who continues to lobby for further loosening of the laws that govern the use and cultivation of pot for medicinal reasons.

There were even a few accidental tourists who unwittingly inhaled the pungent scent of burning cannabis.

But by the end of the demonstration there was one booth that was really smokin' — the pizza stand.

Note: `I know it's hard to organize yourself while you're baked. You've got to think about the traffic coming from the other direction.' Larry Duprey of Marijuana Party of Canada giving directions to crowd.

Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Author: David Graham, Staff Reporter
Published: Monday, May 6, 2002
Copyright: 2002 The Toronto Star
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/

Related Articles & Web Site:

Million Marijuana March 2002
http://freedomtoexhale.com/million.htm

CannabisNews - Cannabis Archives
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml


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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 06, 2002 at 12:25:00 PT
Just a Note
Hi Everyone,

If anyone is interested in news articles that have been published about the Million Marijuana Marches please check my MMM 2002 page here. As I post the articles I put them on this pages and it is current so far I hope. I just didn't want anyone to think I wasn't posting the articles because I am and am still looking for more.

Million Marijuana March 2002
http://freedomtoexhale.com/million.htm


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