Hash Bashers Advocate The Medical Use Of Pot
by Jodi S. Cohen

April 05, 1998 - The Detroit News - letters@detnews.com

ANN ARBOR -- Winds carried the smells of burning incense and marijuana across University of Michigan's central campus Saturday during the 27th Hash Bash.

A crowd of 4,000 consisted of many people in their 20s, many of whom weren't even born when the first Hash Bash brought pot smokers from around the country to celebrate the city's $5 pot law in 1971.

On Saturday, the crowd smoked and listened as speakers praised pot, disparaged the police and called for legalization of medicinal marijuana.

Police arrested 40 people, including one U-M student, for drug possession and other offenses.

"This is a political rally because there are people who have stopped us from enjoying the herb," said Adam Brook, who has organized the event the past eight years. "But even worse, they will take your dope."

Organizers used the event to push the issue of marijuana as medicine.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which allows doctors to recommend the use of marijuana and other drugs for medicinal purposes.

That same year, the U.S. Justice Department reported that marijuana seizures in the country were up nearly 300 percent but the number of arrests for marijuana possession remained relatively unchanged.

The study also found that the majority of the users were teen-agers and that enough marijuana to make four cigarettes costs between $5 to $15, depending on where the drug was bought. The Justice Department also found that 25 percent of people entering drug treatment programs have problems with marijuana use.

In Michigan, where pot was legal for medicinal use from 1979-87, there is no effort to legalize marijuana.

"I think it is a cause that definitely needs to be addressed," said Kyle Dupuy, 24, a U-M senior studying psychology.

Joe Hart, director of Medical Cannabis Providers and one of about a dozen speakers, pleaded for the legalization of medicinal marijuana. Hart, who has AIDS, said he smokes "half of a joint" before and after he eats to prevent nausea.

"There should be no more jailing of patients. Doctors should treat and prescribe medicine, not the police," Hart said.

Signs read "Life Sucks, Get High," and this year's event had an unofficial mascot, a person dressed as a life-size bong, a water-filled pipe used by pot smokers.

Meanwhile, anti-drug activists held a counter rally called "Keep Off the Grass."

"Hash Bash will go on. But we're saying that not everyone agrees with Hash Bash," said Ann Arbor police officer Jamie Adkins, who organized the anti-pot event.

Music and free food attracted some people to the rally, as did the message that substance abuse is dangerous.

"Hash Bash sends a totally wrong message and glamorizes drug use and makes it seem harmless," said Darnell Jackson, director of the Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy.

Hash Bash onlookers were celebrating recreational use of marijuana.

"This is beautiful. All these stoners coming together. We wanted to come here to support marijuana," said Kyle Clarey, 21, of Grand Rapids.

There also was an element of commercialization. Hawkers sold T-shirts with a parody of the South Park TV show where "Stoned Kenny" lives in "Hash Park" instead of South Park.

Jodi Cohen is an Ann Arbor free-lance writer.

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