30 Busted at Rally To Smoke Pot
From: News and Views | Crime File | Sunday, May 06, 2001

By GREG GITTRICH and DON SINGLETON Daily News Staff Writers

Joint Custody: Police nabbed over 30 pot smokers as yesterday's demonstration turned violent.

hirty demonstrators were arrested yesterday afternoon when a Manhattan marijuana march ended in violent clashes between protesters and cops.

Police hit at least a dozen people with pepper spray after marchers ran through crowded Battery Park pointing out undercover officers arresting participants for smoking pot.

"No narcs in the park!" they chanted as they identified the narcotics cops. Other chants included "41 shots!" — a reference to the police slaying of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo.

The annual pot parade, this time called "Cures Not Wars — 2001 The Space Odyssey," began forming at 11 a.m. at Washington Square Park. At 1 p.m., marchers proceeded to Broadway and then headed south toward their intended destinations — City Hall Park and Battery Park.

Organizers estimated the crowd at 5,000; police say 1,000.

The protesters walked south, filling five solid blocks, chanting, "We smoke pot, and we like it a lot," and carrying placards that read "Free the Herb," "Emancipate Cannibis" and "No Ganja, No Peace."

Many argued for the legalization of medical use of marijuana; others supported legalized recreational use of the drug.

The marchers, mostly young and white, were led by a statuesque woman dubbed Medical Marijuana Barbie, who wore fluorescent pink hair and a pink patterned dress.

"Marijuana is peaceful," said Marcus Josepin, 18, of Kearny, N.J. "You never see a crackhead march or a heroin user march."

Organizers carried a piñata shaped like Mayor Giuliani's head that was filled with fake joints.

By 3 p.m., the marchers reached Battery Park, where they began to light up real joints.

Plainclothes cops arrested smokers in twos and threes, placed them in plastic handcuffs, photographed and herded them into waiting vans.

At 4:10 p.m., four plainclothes officers were carrying an arrested man toward an area where several police vans were parked, and the man's loud protests and the way the cops were carrying him — facedown, his face bouncing on the ground — caused scores of people to come running.

A few minutes later, another officer tripped as he was removing a man. A uniformed officer rushed in to help the fallen cop to his feet, and when a crowd gathered around him, a lieutenant began spraying the protesters with pepper spray.

The demonstrators disbanded shortly after 6 p.m., the time their rally permit expired.

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Thousands march to protest marijuana laws

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By The Associated Press as reported in Evansville Courier & Press Saturday, May 05, 2001 

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NEW YORK - Several thousand people marched through lower Manhattan on Saturday to protest laws criminalizing marijuana use.

"Marijuana is good medicine" and "Stop all cannabis arrests" read signs carried by demonstrators in the Cures Not Wars 2001 march.


"We want to turn an alcohol and tobacco world into a marijuana world," said Dana Beal, a march organizer.


The carnival-like atmosphere was accented by chants including "We smoke pot and we like it a lot."


There were no apparent signs of marijuana use along the parade route, which was lined with police officers. Police did not immediately report any arrests.

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Sunday, May 6, 2001

'A Marijuana World' Is Quest of Marchers

From Times Wire Reports as printed in the LA Times/latimes.com




     Thousands marched through lower Manhattan to protest laws criminalizing marijuana use.
     "Marijuana is good medicine" and "Stop all cannabis arrests" read signs carried by protesters in the Cures Not Wars 2001 march.
     "We want to turn an alcohol and tobacco world into a marijuana world," said Dana Beal, a march organizer. The carnival-like atmosphere was accented by chants including "We smoke pot and we like it a lot."
     There were no apparent signs of marijuana use along the parade route, and no arrests were reported.
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times

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Thousands Protest Marijuan Laws
Updated 3:43 PM ET May 5, 2001NEW YORK (AP) - Several thousand people marched through lower Manhattan on Saturday to protest laws criminalizing marijuana use.

"Marijuana is good medicine" and "Stop all cannabis arrests" read signs carried by demonstrators in the Cures Not Wars 2001 march.

"We want to turn an alcohol and tobacco world into a marijuana world," said Dana Beal, a march organizer.

The carnival-like atmosphere was accented by chants including "We smoke pot and we like it a lot."

There were no apparent signs of marijuana use along the parade route, which was lined with police officers. Police did not immediately report any arrests.