Pubdate: Mon, 28 Apr 2014
Source: Red and Black, The (U of Georgia, GA Edu)
Copyright: 2014 The Red and Black Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.redandblack.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2800
Author: Evelyn Andrews

MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION SUPPORTERS RALLY AT ATHENS CITY HALL

Supporters for marijuana law reform rallied outside the Athens-Clarke 
County City Hall on Monday.

"Marijuana is a popular issue around the country right now, and we 
are here to basically bring public attention to the fact that we are 
not criminals and people who use marijuana are no more criminal than 
a person who drinks wine," said James Bell, director of the Georgia 
Campaign for Access Reform and Education Project.

The rally was facilitated by the Georgia CARE Project.

Bell said he expected up to 50 people, from different areas of 
Georgia and other states, to attend the event.

One study found approximately 60 percent of likely voters support 
marijuana reform, Bell said.

"Public sentiment has changed," he said. "We believe there is support 
on our side, and we want to convince our lawmakers that we have got 
to change these laws."

By 2015, the organization hopes that legislation will have passed to 
increase the amount of marijuana a person must have in his or her 
possession before being charged with a felony, which can allow a 
person to be sentenced up to ten years in prison in Georgia.

The rally was led by Josh Wayne, the founder and president of the 
Athens branch of Georgia CARE.

"I was really involved in the issue and I had a lot of friends who 
had been getting arrested for marijuana and I just wanted to see some 
regulation happen," Wayne, who is also a freshman psychology major 
from Dunwoody, said.

Wayne said that he felt like students on campus were an untapped 
resource that would be helpful to the cause.

"The best way to do that was to get involved on campus and to get the 
students involved because we are so inactive," he said.

Ed Wilson, a criminal defense lawyer and rally participant, said he 
no longer wants to see people be sentenced to prison for small 
amounts a marijuana or for growing a small plant.

"There are people who need to be prosecuted and people using 
marijuana do not fall in that category," he said.

Wilson also said that he was disappointed the marijuana reform bill 
that would have allowed for some use of medical marijuana failed and 
that its failure was due to political maneuvering and was not the 
result of resistance to the bill.

Wilson's son, Ben Wilson, said he needed to smoke marijuana because 
it remedies his epileptic seizures and the drug should be more widely 
available.

"There are a lot of people who have that or other conditions who 
really need the plant and cannot get it," he said.

Ron Williams, of the Georgia Taxpayer Alliance and a speaker at the 
rally, explained why the organization was involved with this issue.

"If we approach it as a taxpayer's rights issue, we think that money 
would be far better spent on additional law enforcement and teachers 
instead of arresting and incarcerating people," Williams said.

Sharon Revert, the executive director of Peachtree N.O.R.M.L., The 
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, spoke at the 
rally supporting the pending medical amnesty bill in Georgia.

The bill will allow people to call law enforcement in the case of an 
emergency without fear of getting prosecuted for the presence of 
alcohol or drugs at certain amounts.

"We have children dying for years because they were scared to call 
the cops," Revert said.

At noon, the rally participants made their way down College Avenue, 
descending upon another rally at the Arch that was supporting the 
elimination of the ban against undocumented students before walking 
through some parts of North Campus.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom