Cannabis Coalition Comes Out of the Smokey Shadows

Author: Megan O'Keefe

On Saturday, May 3, the Vermont Cannabis Coalition held a rally in Burlington's Battery Park to protest the prohibition of marijuana. The event, one of 200 similar protests held around the world on Saturday, was a part of Cure-not-Wars' annual Million Marijuana March.
The Burlington protest was largely an educational event. Vermont State Representative Dave Zuckerman, who recently introduced a bill advocating the legalization of medical marijuana before the Vermont Legislature, spoke, along with neurologist Dr. Joe McSherry. The 100 participants were encouraged to collect information materials while listening to the music of the Channel 2 Dub Band.
The Million Marijuana March was started almost 30 years ago by Dana Beal. Since Beal founded Cures-not-Wars, a New York-based organization, in 1999 the group has assumed sponsorship of the event. Cures-not-Wars was founded in May 1994 as a grass-roots response, according to the group's Web site, "to the deteriorating quality of life in America." In addition to marijuana activism the organization has assumed a strong stance on many drug-related issues. According to its Web site, Cures-not-Wars is composed of a "coalition of concerned citizens, drug-reform activists, health-care and drug-treatment providers, drug users and social-justice activists committed to direct action to stop the drug war, whether in small, local protests or in regional or national actions." The organization provides informational materials on Cures-not-Wars.org and Million MarijuanaMarch.org designed to unite the efforts of activists throughout the world. "The war on drugs," declares Cures-not-Wars, "is public health enemy number one." The goals of the organization include legalizing possession and over-the-counter sale of hypodermic syringes to reduce the spread of infectious disease, funding medical research for non-coercive drug treatments and separating so-called "soft" and "hard" drugs, while decriminalizing all personal use.