More Sentinel Coverage of the daily 4:20 celebration going on in Keene NH

September 27, 2009 by toby
Filed under: Issues, News, Personal Freedom, Police, Update

Thanks to the Keene Sentinel’s Anika Clark for another article about yesterday’s cannabis celebration in Keene’s Central Square:

One arrested, others say not all smoking pot

Published: Sunday, September 27, 2009

An ongoing marijuana protest in Keene’s Central Square came to a head Saturday afternoon, as police made their first drug-related arrest since the group started gathering several days ago.

Protesters yelled everything from “Leave him alone!” to “This is how they did it in Nazi Germany!” as police took 40-year-old Richard G. Paul into custody.

Protesters advocating marijuana’s legalization were also joined on the square Saturday by several adults and children who held signs favoring drug control.

On Friday, Paul told The Sentinel he was one of the first people to meet on the square to smoke marijuana every day at 4:20 p.m. — a number identified with cannabis in marijuana subculture.

Lt. Shane C. Maxfield said Paul’s arrest on Saturday was for marijuana possession after he allegedly blew smoke into an officer’s face.

More than 50 rally-goers followed Paul and the officers to the police station at 350 Marlboro St., where at least one shouted protests through the door to the booking room and others sat, smoking, in a circle in a restricted area of the parking lot.

Although many of protesters have said they support legalizing marijuana — and the air above Central Square smelled like pot smoke — numerous people told The Sentinel they haven’t actually been smoking the drug at 4:20.

One man, who refused to identify himself, puffed on a glass pipe in front of a Keene police officer. But after the officer walked away, the man said the pipe was filled with cherry-flavored tobacco.

While sitting on a curb outside the police station, 48-year-old Chaz Munro said he would neither confirm nor deny whether he’d been smoking pot downtown.

Still, he described what he called “fakey bakey,” or substances that look and smell like marijuana.

So why protest pot prohibition by smoking something that isn’t?

“It’ll jam up the system,” said Munro, who wore a bandana over his face. And hopefully, with regards to police enforcement, he added, “It will be more trouble than it’s worth.”

While they moved to let police cruisers pass, the protesters’ smoke circle blocked a portion of the parking lot Saturday afternoon, as officers attempted to go to and from calls.

At one point, Maxfield came out to speak with the crowd and, one by one, fielded questions on everything from the charge Paul faces to whether Maxfield would arrest a cancer patient for smoking marijuana.

Maxfield — who said he wouldn’t arrest the person suffering from cancer — said he personally believes marijuana should be legal. But he told the rally-goers, “there’s a process for getting things changed,” and said that’s where their energy might be better spent.

People can either “yell about (the law)” and “have temper tantrums” or they can work to change it, Maxfield said.

Paul was released at 5:45 p.m. on $1,000 personal recognizance. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 2 in Keene District Court.

Video of the arrest can be seen here.

Comments

3 Comments on More Sentinel Coverage of the daily 4:20 celebration going on in Keene NH

thinkliberty on Sun, 27th Sep 2009 4:33 pm

I agree with Maxfield; “there’s a process for getting things changed”

Civil Disobedience is part of that process.

I think they tried using the government to get things changed and one man denied the will of the people with a “veto.”

Pharmaceutical companies are using the government to make money on sick people in need of medication. If people can’t make and grow their own medication, then the Pharmaceutical industry makes a lot of money.

A single man or a group of men do not have the right to deny sick people or anyone else from pain easing or life saving medication.

Maxfield needs to use the process to change the law:

He needs to Stop Following Orders, when his boss orders him to kidnap peaceful people for owning or growing live saving medication.

Everyone has the right to grow their own medication.

Teknorat on Sun, 27th Sep 2009 4:34 pm

I certainly didn’t see any smoke being blown in an officer’s face in the arrest video.

Josh on Sun, 27th Sep 2009 11:19 pm

I’m all done begging for scraps of my freedom to be given back to me. I own my body, and I will make the decision of what I can and cannot put in my body, not the”representatives” of others. That’s what this is about.

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