PORTLAND - About 200 people showed up Deering Oaks Park Saturday for the Atlantic CannaFEST. A reggae band from the Boston area, High Hopes, were performing at the bandstand. People were lined at the sole food vendor in the park. People were also lined up in front of the booth for High Tech Grower Supply store, picking up free samples of equipment used to grow marijuana hydroponically. Several politcal candidates are on hand and speakers include Dustin Sulak, a doctor who has offices in Hallowell and Falmouth. Sulak certifies patients and assists them in using marijuana as a medication. The nearby childen's park at Deering Oaks was filled with children and their parents, many of them unaware of the fesitval. The festival promotes medical marijuana and protests the high price of state-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries. [end]
PORTLAND -- Despite some grim statistics, authorities are winning the war against methamphetamine abuse, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a national gathering of public prosecutors in Portland on Monday. Gonzales, the nation's top law-enforcement official, appeared at the National District Attorneys Association summer convention to talk about the toll methamphetamine abuse has taken and what is working to combat its spread. In Washington, Gonzales has been mentioned as a leading candidate to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. In Portland, Gonzales stuck to his methamphetamine message, took no questions and said nothing about the high court in his address to more than 550 district attorneys, their spouses and children. [continues 426 words]
