Thanks to Phil Bantz for this article about the Keene police’s position on the cannabis celebrations at 4:20 everyday in Central Square. While KPD is doing the right thing and ignoring the peaceful people gathering daily and toking up, it’s amusing to listen to them attempt to explain that they are serious about cannabis use and would be arresting people if they could only just determine that laws were being broken. Maybe someday they’ll actually admit that what they have been doing in the name of some arbitrary words on paper has been WRONG, and they are sorry.
Until then, leaving peaceful people alone will suffice. Here’s the story:
The marijuana protesters in downtown Keene are getting high on publicity, while city police have adopted a wait-and-see strategy.
Every afternoon for the past week, protesters have gathered at Central Square to promote the decriminalization of marijuana. They upped the ante Sunday by showing up at the Keene Police Department lobby, where they cheered and smoked.
No protesters were arrested during the demonstration at the police station. So far, just one protester has been arrested and charged with marijuana possession. (more…)
The smokers are protesting marijuana laws and say they’ll smoke in Central Square daily until the law changes. Police say they won’t tolerate wanton law-breaking, but have no plans for a crackdown.
Marijuana may or may not spark creativity, but it has long inspired music. Bessie Smith and Willie Nelson have sung its praises, as has pretty much any reggae and hip hop artist you’d care to name. But none of them were in Keene Wednesday.
“Well in my life I’ve learned that serving’s not the point
Give me a toke off that joint, oh yeah
There’s a 420 fest every day in Keene
People being peaceful and free….”
The Ridley Report was there to record history in the making as a heroic Manchester liberty activist named Travis sells cannabis openly in a public park, all the while in possession of an “open container”! Have the Keeniacs been out-disobedienced?
Advocates for the decriminalization of marijuana gathered in Keene, New Hampshire on Monday in Central Square to try and get their message heard. The crowd has grown from about 20 people to about 100 since the group began gathering on Tuesday. Many of them are smoking pot right out in the open.
They’ve gathered at 4:20 p.m. every day, a significant time in the cannabis culture. “We want to bring this message of freedom to as many people around the world as possible,” said Ian Freeman, who is a blogger on FreeKeene.com.
“We’re actually gonna come out here in public and make it known how we feel and put pressure on the politicians,” says Andrew Carroll, another protester who plans to run for office in 2010.
Local businesses owners have been watching (more…)
People again lit up for marijuana legalization in Keene’s Central Square Friday in a protest that’s given new meaning to the word “grassroots.”
Drivers honked. A sign proclaimed pot safer than prison. Even the soldier statue in Central Square got into the act with a sign that read “4:20 Everyday.”
During the ganja-happy gathering that’s recently become a daily event downtown, people congregate to smoke at 4:20 p.m., a number identified with the marijuana subculture.
“It started as two guys just smoking a joint every day. … I’m ecstatic about the way it’s turned out,” said Richard G. Paul, 40, of Keene, who said he was one of the event’s originators.
Surprised by how quickly these lone tokers multiplied this week, Paul said the rally’s purpose is “to point out to people that the war on drugs is a war on peaceful people.” (more…)