Tufts students were among the thousands of people who came together Saturday on the Boston Common to support the pro-marijuana Freedom Rally, commonly known as HempFest, which was sponsored by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann).
HempFest is an annual rally calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and regulation of the substance for adult use. The event has been held on the third Saturday in September since 1989. This year's HempFest theme was "No More Cuffs for Cannabis," MassCann President Bill Downing told the Daily.
"It was a wonderful success; everybody had a great time," Downing said of the rally. "We didn't have any violence of any sort. We had a big crowd. We had a wonderful day."
"There was a pretty good vibe at the fest overall. It was a good time. It seemed like a lot of people were having fun," said Chris, a Tufts sophomore who attended the event. He requested that his last name be withheld from this article due to the subject matter.
The goal of the rally was to bring the issue of decriminalization and regulation to the public's attention.
"That's the main purpose," Downing said. "The other huge purpose is to let people who believe as we do have a feeling of community."
There was broad support at the rally for an initiative that is slated to appear on the November ballot to decriminalize possession of marijuana in Massachusetts. The Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative, or Question 2, is a binding ballot question that, with a majority vote, would change the law without requiring any additional legislation to go into effect.
HempFest lasted from noon until 6 p.m., with back-to-back speakers and musicians performing throughout the rally. Vendors sold food and merchandise.
"[I was] surprised by the number of shops and different booths that kind of catered to people," said David, a Tufts sophomore who also requested that his last name be withheld due to the subject matter.
"There's all kinds of hippy clothing and hippy accoutrements — and food too, good food," Dowling said. "I guess the best part of the rally is really just the crowd. The crowd is a lot of fun."
He added, "There's merchandise vendors that have all kinds of things that would be of interest to people who support our cause."
Attendance surpassed last year's turnout, Downing said, although there are no precise admission figures. "I would say many thousands of college students were there," he said, adding that fair weather contributed to the substantial turnout.
Tufts students were surprised by the large turnout. "It was really crowded actually; I didn't expect that many people. There were [a] bunch of different types of people … and there were actually quite a few police there," Chris said.
"I guess it was more or less what I expected. It was maybe bigger than I expected," David said.
"It seemed kind of like 4/20 on Tufts' campus, but on a grander scale," David added, referring to April 20, an unofficial holiday for marijuana smokers.
Although the City of Boston issued a permit to MassCann to hold HempFest, the original permit contained what Downing called "unconstitutional language" that prohibited MassCann from bringing its own vendors to the rally. Downing explained that requiring that another organization provide food to the rally would effectively shut the rally down, since the entire event is funded through vendor profits.
"They're trying to deny funding for our event so they can have it disappear," Downing said. "It's not that they don't like the Freedom Rally ... They just don't like our issue."
MassCann filed an injunction against the City of Boston demanding that the municipality not interfere in the event. MassCann won the suit.
"The judge was very angry with the city for illegally trying to [prevent] us from funding our event," Downing said.
MassCann has successfully sued Boston for permits to hold HempFest twice before, in 1997 and 1998.
Boston police issued a total of 80 arrests and citations to rally-goers, according to Downing. Seventy-eight people received written citations for the possession of marijuana.
Downing added that the police informed him that they made no arrests at the event for heroin possession. No arrests were made for violence or the intent to sell either.
"We didn't have any public urination or anything like that," Downing said.
"It seems … that the cops' central focus in their job is making marijuana arrests," David said. "Maybe I'm overstating it, but that seems to be a main priority to an excessive degree."
David said he saw the people at HempFest as a group of ordinary citizens. "There were a lot of just ordinary people there who viewed smoking weed as just a life choice and a civil liberty."
