Marijuana March

This photo is from the New York City Worldwide Marijuana March, an annual event held on the first Saturday of May - click here for more photos. It is NYC's celebration of a worldwide event called the Global Marijuana March or Million Marijuana March, now with 232 cities involved. Each city has its own spin which involves marches, festivals, rallies, concerts, speakers and information tables. The event, which has been going on for 40 years in NYC, is a celebration of marijuana culture with an aim to legalize cannabis for all uses - recreation, medicine, fuel, etc. Various groups are involved in the organization of the march such as NORML, Cannabis Culture and Cures-Not-Wars, one of the most interesting groups. Cures-Not-Wars is making efforts to legalize the use of ibogaine, a hallucinogen of African origin which is reputedly very effective in treating opiate addiction. Ibogaine is administered in many countries as an experimental drug. In other countries, such as the United States, it is a controlled substance along with other psychedelics. Cures-Not-Wars is headed by Dana Beal, former Yippie, out of 9 Bleecker Street, the former home of the Yipster Times and now a museum (click here for previous post).. The figure at the center of the photo is, appropriately, David Peel, a musician and activist who is perhaps best known for his first album Have a Marijuana, produced in 1968 with his group The Lower East Side. The parade has the feel of a sixties rally with a benign tone. The police appeared quite easy going and tolerant of the event. After all, how much of a serious danger can marijuana activists really be :)