Pubdate: Sun, 08 May 2005
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Brett Clarkson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

A TOKIN' GESTURE

Thousands March For Legal Pot

CLUTCHING A Bob Marley flag and a joint the size of a baseball bat, Jeff 
Paden was out to have a good time at Queen's Park.

"I've been smoking this probably close to an hour," Paden, 22, said 
yesterday at the Million Marijuana March in the park north of the 
legislature building. "I can't walk anymore."

Paden was among the hundreds of potheads to rally for the legalization of bud.

Organizers of the 6th annual march claimed similar protests were staged in 
200 cities around the world.

Paden, from Oshawa, said the massive joint he'd been smoking contained two 
ounces of marijuana, and he was more than willing to share.

His friend Jonathan Kaye was displaying a medicinal licence on his chest, 
saying the weed helps him deal with the sciatic nerve condition in his 
back. However, even he conceded yesterday's intake was hardly medicinal.

"This isn't medicinal," Kaye said. "This is enough weed for some people for 
a year.

Mike Collinson, 42, whose psychedelic band Two Stone Throw played 
yesterday, said it's time pot was legalized.

He made the argument that if alcohol is legal, pot should be -- besides, he 
said, liquor starts more fights than pot ever did.

"Cigarettes are worse than marijuana," Collinson said. "On a social level 
it's probably a lot funner to hang out with pot-heads than with people who 
abuse alcohol."

Police reported no arrests.
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MAP posted-by: Beth