Pubdate: Mon, 19 Aug 2002
Source: Lewiston Sun Journal (ME)
Copyright: 2002 Lewiston Sun Journal
Contact:  http://www.sunjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/743
Author: Doug Fletcher

2 DOZEN BUSTED AT HEMPSTOCK

As Hempstock 2002 ended Sunday, about two dozen people faced a date with a 
judge.

And one - a 17-year-old - was seeing a doctor.

That youth was treated at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for an 
overdose of ecstasy and LSD, said a State Police spokesman.

The criminal charges "range from traffic violations to the selling of 
ecstasy" added the spokesman, Steve McCausland.

Hempstock, an annual multi-day celebration of all things marijuana, has 
been staged for about a decade at Harry Brown's farm, which sits on a dirt 
road off of Route 43. The event is organized by Maine Vocals, a group 
advocating legalization of marijuana.

This year, Starks refused to grant a permit for the festival, which ran for 
four days starting Thursday. Without that mass-gathering permit, organizers 
had to stop the music every so often and ask people to leave the farm, then 
return in a few minutes to resume partying.

That partying had to stop by 10 p.m., though, to prevent police from 
shutting the event down.

Kennebec and Somerset County District Attorney David Crook had said earlier 
that people living in the rural community "have a right to a good night's 
sleep."

Police, led by a contingent of about 10 state troopers, maintained a 
24-hour-a-day vigil over the town, making certain that events at the farm 
didn't spill out onto the streets, and making certain that things at the 
farm didn't get out of hand.

Besides the troopers, McCausland said Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement 
officers were on hand and agents assigned to the Maine Drug Enforcement 
Agency were prowling the festival grounds. LSD and ecstasy, another 
hallucinogenic drug, were confiscated, McCausland said.

And on Sunday, Crook's office issued three search warrants aimed at vendors 
who were selling pipes and bongs used to smoke marijuana. The devices are 
considered drug paraphernalia. Several were confiscated by police who 
served the warrants, McCausland said.

He said it would be up to Crook to decide if he wants to press charges in 
those cases.

Earlier during the festival, a motorist "bumped" a state trooper who was 
stationed at a roadblock on Route 43 near the entrance to Brown's farm.

The driver was described as being irate over being stopped. The man, whose 
name wasn't immediately available, was arrested. McCausland said the 
trooper wasn't seriously injured and continued working at the roadblock.
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