Pubdate: Sun, 05 May 2013
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Giuseppe Valiante
Page: 21

SMOKIN' POT RALLY HITS THE STREETS

MONTREAL -- Reggae singers on a flatbed truck led a couple hundred
people through the city's downtown streets Saturday in support of
marijuana legalization.

Police ignored the joints burning smoke into the hot spring air as the
crowd, openly defying the country's marijuana laws, walked leisurely
down the streets of a busy shopping district.

Protest organizer Marc-Boris St. Maurice, activist and founder of the
Marijuana Party of Canada, told QMI Agency the police "are pretty
tolerant today."

He added that the lack of arrests on Saturday showed how unevenly the
country's pot laws are enforced.

And perhaps the uneven enforcement is one reason an April 2013 UNICEF
study revealed that Canadian children and young people had the highest
rate of cannabis use among youth in rich countries, at 28%.

Protester Janine Harrington, 26, who admitted she was high, told QMI
Agency the UNICEF study revealed a deeper problem in Canadian society.

"I think the question is, why? she said. "Why do 13-year-olds feel the
need to get high and to medicate themselves?"

Protester Martin Lutteral, 44, said he has smoked marijuana for 25
years and Saturday's protest reminded him of the gay rights movement.

"Thirty years ago, gays went out for pride and said, Hey, damn it,
there is nothing wrong with us!" he said.

"And I feel like there is nothing wrong with me smoking pot and it
should be legal."

Benjamin Biron-Patenaude, 17, trailed the protest with an ice cream
cart. He said business had so far been slow.

He put a thick, short joint to his lips, inhaled and said, "But
they'll be hungry in about 30 minutes."
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MAP posted-by: Matt