150 demonstrate at State House to urge legalization of marijuana

AUGUSTA — A weekend State House rally to promote marijuana legalization drew more than 150 people who listened to songs and speeches by activists and a candidate for Congress.

“Let our people grow,” cried Donald Christen of Madison, who founded the Maine Vocals group that is at the forefront of Maine’s increasingly high-profile hemp movement.

Green Party congressional candidate Jonathan Carter told pro-hemp activists at Saturday’s rally that the economics of marijuana prohibition “simply does not make any sense.”

“Ultimately, we support the right of the people to decide this issue,” said Carter, who will be on the November ballot as a candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat.

Asserting that the Green Party opposes drug abuse, Carter said hemp should be seriously considered as “an alternative pulp source.”

Its cultivation, he said, could help reduce deforestation in Maine and around the world. Legalization, he added, could legitimize a domestic cash crop worth potentially $200 million in Maine and billions more around the nation.

“We all need to dare to say no to drug abuse and other addictive habits,” Carter said.

But rather than relying on what he called intrusive law enforcement efforts, Carter said, “we need to stop fighting the battle with guns, laws and prisons.”

“It is only going to happen through education and readjusting our social structure,” Carter said. “Drug abuse is an escape by people who have been abandoned.”

Gathered on the front steps and lawn of the state capitol, spectators loudly cheered Carter’s criticisms of Maine’s controversial anti-drug police agency known as BIDE. The agency’s name has been changed to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Musical interludes were provided by a number of musicians, including a band called Starks Naked in tribute to the Maine town of Starks that has been something of battleground in the Maine Vocals’ campaign.

Christen, who describes the Maine Vocals as “a grass roots type organization,” said rally planners had invited lawmakers to attend.

Remarking on their absence, he said, “none of them seem to want to take the challenge.”

Carter, who said he was ignoring warnings that his appearance at the rally would amount to “political suicide,” called his presence a reflection of Green Party willingness to confront potentially unpopular issues.

“We don’t believe in political expediency. We believe in being honest, truthful and forthright,” he said to cheers.