Pubdate: Thu, 18 Aug 2005
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: Laura Crimaldi,
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POT RALLY GOES UP IN SMOKE AS 44 ARRESTED

Hundreds of tokers descended on the Common yesterday for the annual 
"Freedom Rally" to legalize pot as 44 people were arrested on marijuana 
and  cocaine possession charges amid a heavy police presence.

"I saw  other people doing it. I thought it was OK," said Brian Labrador, 
17, of Quincy  after plainclothes officers released him from handcuffs 
without charging him.

Labrador  was sitting on the base on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument with 
a tin of  marijuana on his lap when he was handcuffed by two plainclothes 
officers who  searched his belongings. The officers confiscated the drugs 
and ordered another  teen to empty three bottles of Bacardi before letting 
Labrador go. The rally,  sponsored the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform 
Coalition, came days after the  Herald exposed widespread public drug use 
in the Boston Common and Public Garden.

"I still  say (Boston Mayor Thomas Menino) turned a blind eye to what was 
going on in the  Common," said anti-drug activist William T. Breault. 
Breault and  Lea Palleria Cox, president of Concerned Citizens for Drug 
Prevention Inc.,  toured the Common wearing buttons with crosses through 
pictures of a marijuana  leaf and hypodermic needle.

The recent  publicity didn't stop young users from toking up in plain view. 
"It's a  good cause," said Sarah Maclaurine, 16, of Swampscott after she 
was spotted  taking a hit from a marijuana pipe. "In my opinion, like beer 
and wine and  liquor, it should be controlled."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman