Source: Hour Magazine

MARCHING ON HIGH

For thousands of Montealers and millions worldwide, the Million Marijuana March is both a fundamental right and a fun-filled rite of spring.

From its beginning in May 1998, when activists faced down then-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani in a U.S. federal court and won their right to march for marijuana down New York's famed 5th Avenue, the first Saturday in May has since become an internationally-recognized day of pro-marijuana marches and festivals. Under the stewardship of the provincial Bloc Pot and federal Marijuana Party, Montreal was one of the original participating cities.

In recent years they confined the march to the trendy streets of the Plateau but organizers this year are taking the cause into the troubled Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, long considered the exclusive fiefdom of outlaw biker gangs.

"We know many [ East-end residents ] are silently sympathetic to ending marijuana prohibition and the violence associated with the drug trade," says federal Marijuana Party leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice.

The march starts at "high" noon from Joliette metro, and will eventually wind its way to Berri-UQAM Square. Their cavalcade will include a "rolling stage" with a bevy of indigenous musicians, culled from local groups GrimSkunk, Overbass and Cavaliers Noirs, under the cover-name "Collectivo."

Since coming out as a marijuana activist in 1993, St-Maurice has helped organize five annual smoke-ins, four Million March parades, the provincial Bloc Pot and the federal Marijuana Party. "It's been a long, strange trip," he recalls. "But strangest perhaps is our relationship with the police - for this one day each year, they're really out there helping us. And each year I find myself reminding people to be polite with the cops." - "After all, this is a celebration," he said, "not a demonstration." Participants assemble at Metro Joliette around 11 a.m.

Charlie McKenzie

Source: Montreal Gazette

ACTIVISTS STAGE SMOKE-IN FOR LEGAL POT

A sweet, pungent smell filled the streets of midtown neighbourhoods yesterday.

It was the odour of pot being smoked freely as hundreds of young people demonstrated for the decriminalization of marijuana.

The smoke-in was one of similar events in 100 cities - from Adelaide to Zagreb - to get cannabis products off the banned list.

"We'd like to end prohibition so that we can get on with our lives and no longer be treated as criminals for a simple choice of what we choose to consume," said Marc-Boris St-Maurice, 33, interim leader of the Marijuana Party, which has run candidates in federal elections.
"It's a relatively harmless plant," St-Maurice argued.


Irwin Block, Montreal Gazette