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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US MI: Hash Bash Mash And Cash
ccguide Sunday 02 Apr 2000 Pubdate: Sun, 02 Apr 2000 Source: Ann Arbor News (MI) Copyright: The Ann Arbor News 2000 Contact: Address: P. O. Box 1147, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Feedback: http://aa.mlive.com/about/letter/ Website: http://aa.mlive.com/ Forum: http://aa.mlive.com/forums/ Author: Will Stewart, News Staff Reporter Note: Our newshawk writes: "This was the most political Hash Bash in years, with tables lined up for folks to sign and take the Personal Responsibility Amendment - Michigan Constitutional Initiative petitions http://www.ballot2000.net/ - plus an Ann Arbor medical marijuana initiative. There was a great group of speakers. Jack Herer presented a history of the 1972 California Marijuana Initiative (your newshawk was a county coordinator for that effort) - a grass roots effort similar to the PRA. Most other speakers also addressed the Michigan initiatives. Thank you for the hugs and kind words from the many supporters of MAP who were present." Hash Bash Mash And Cash Some 5,000 Crowd Diag For Spring Rite The usual coalition of stoners, bikers, students and the just plain curious gathered on the University of Michigan's Diag Saturday, giving new meaning to the term "melting pot." The Hash Bash, Ann Arbor's unofficial rite of spring, attracted some 5,000 participants, scores of vendors, a handful of arrests and a heady - if remarkably smoke-free - vibe to the 29th annual event. "If you came here to get high, this is probably the wrong place to be," said Aaron Smither, a University of Michigan graduate from Southfield, who attended three Hash Bashes as a student during the 1980s and returned Saturday to find things different than he remembers them. "I think people come here to see what all the fuss is about, but everyone's too scared to light up," he said. Smither said he remembers a different scene during his student days. Marijuana smoking wasn't overt back then, he said, but it was clearly more prevalent than what he experienced Saturday. "On the other hand, it looks like a lot of us took care of that before we got here," he he said. For another thing, he said, the event has become far more commercial than it used to be, with vendors selling everything from hand-blown marijuana pipes to T-shirts depicting Bugs Bunny at the Hash Bash. "Bugs on Drugs," shouted one vendor, hawking the shirts. Steven Grimes, who drove with friends from Indianapolis to sell marijuana paraphernalia to Hash Bash participants, said he was disappointed to find that he needed a city-issued permit to vend his goods. However, he said he still was enjoying brisk sales of his wooden pot pipes and plastic marijuana leis that countless revelers were spotted wearing around their necks. While the underground economy enjoyed a steady trade, some legitimate downtown businesses said the annual event is bad for business. Jim Leonard, working the floor at his SKR Classical music store, said his customers - hardly the Hash Bash Crowd - tend to stay away during the event. "It's just an Ann Arbor thing," he said. "Like a football Saturday." Officially, anyway, the Hash Bash remains true to its roots in that organizers use their one hour of public-address time allotted them by U-M officials to promote legalization of marijuana. On Saturday, the focus was on collecting signatures to place the so-called "Personal Responsibility Amendment" on the statewide ballot for November's general election. The initiative would permit marijuana use in private homes. "This is something we've asked for year after year after year - and now we're tired of asking," said Greg Schmidt, the amendment's chief organizer. "So instead of breaking the laws, we're out to change the laws." Speakers - mostly from the pro-pot magazine "High Times" - heaped good-natured verbal abuse on the police officers dotting the crowd Saturday - - particularly when officers moved in to cut off the event's PA system, as scheduled, at 1 p.m. However, officials said the event - all things considered - went off with few hitches. "For the Hash Bash, it's pretty much been business as usual," said U-M Department of Public Safety Lt. Gary Hill. "There were a lot of arrests for marijuana and alcohol, but that's to be expected. In all, he said, U-M officers made about 35 arrests - 25 for marijuana possession and another 10 for open intoxicants. Ann Arbor Police Sgt. Lyle Sartori said city police made a handful of warrant arrests after traffic stops, but said managing traffic snarls was the biggest Hash Bash-related problem. By 1:30 p.m., most revelers had cleared out of the Diag - many heading to a party outside of Casa Dominick's on Monroe Street, and others onto the sidewalks of South State Street, which remained choked throughout the afternoon. While many in the crowd listened attentively to the dozen or so speakers that filled the hour of speeches between "high" noon and 1 p.m., the majority in the crowd appeared more interested in dancing along to the rhythms of an impromptu drum circle, kicking foot bags or just hanging out with friends. Meanwhile, many residents took advantage of a pleasant spring day to walk dogs and strollers through the glassy-eyed crowds. "It's like some sort of blissed-out harmonic convergence," said Heather Dykert, 27, of Royal Oak, who traveled to Ann Arbor with friends for her first-ever Hash Bash. "We're all kindred spirits and we come together to enjoy one another and enjoy the bounty that Mother Nature provides us." And that's just fine with Hash Bash organizer Adam Brook - just as long as the political message isn't lost on everyone. "This is about changing people's attitudes," he said. "But it's also about bringing people together to have a good time." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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