Concord Monitor Claims 50 at Concord 420, AP Claims 100

by | Apr 21, 2010 | 4 comments

I’d claim over 200 came and went throughout the hour. Here’s the link to the AP story claiming 100 attendees, which we definitely surpassed. And here’s the story from the Concord Monitor’s Annmarie Timmins.

About 50 people – one carrying an 11-day-old baby – gathered outside the State House yesterday, some smoking marijuana, to advocate the drug’s legalization. It was a typical “420” event, except no one left in handcuffs.

And that meant no arrest footage for YouTube with headlines like one out of a recent Nashua rally: “Police Attack Freedom Celebration.”

That was intentional.

On Monday, Concord police Chief Robert Barry said his department would treat the rally as “business as usual.” If the station received a complaint about noise or drug use while the rally participants were on city property, officers would respond, he said. (more…)

Union Leader Covers Keene and Concord 420 Celebrations

by | Apr 21, 2010 | 0 comments

Rich PaulThanks to the Union Leader’s Melanie Plenda for this story, covering both Keene and Concord’s 420 celebrations yesterday:

It wasn’t ash from Iceland creating a haze in communities across New Hampshire yesterday.

April 20, or 4-20, has become known in cannabis-loving circles as the day to “smoke ’em if you got ’em,” according to those who gathered in Keene’s Central Square to smoke marijuana in protest of drug laws.

In recent years, pot-fueled rallies have been held across the country to mark the date of 4-20, the numbers that have become a rallying cry among smokers. A rally took place in Concord yesterday on the steps of the Capitol.

Some lit up marijuana cigarettes while organizers with bullhorns, including former Epping police officer Bradley Jardis of Hooksett, cautioned them not to say a word if police came to arrest them.

The 29-year-old Jardis said he is just a free person now “trying to protect the liberties I’ve taken away.”

State troopers watched from inside the State House, but planned no action unless the crowd got unruly. (more…)