Scores rally to legalize pot

About 250 gather for Raleigh march

RALEIGH -- A crowd of marijuana legalization supporters were high on advocacy Sunday afternoon.

The 2007 Raleigh Marijuana Rally, March and Music Festival drew about 250 people to the grounds of the state Capitol to call for the legalization of medical marijuana.

Ann Marie Hodges was there pushing legalization of the drug. She suffers from Adult Onset Still's Disease, a rare form of arthritis that some patients say is made less painful by marijuana.

"I went from taking 15 medications a day to four," Hodges said.

Jeff Badalucco, organizer for the N.C. Cannabis Association, said the event's goal was to "encourage a grass-roots movement," to raise awareness of the benefits of marijuana.

This is the fifth year the loosely knit organization of advocates has gathered as part of the Global Marijuana March, held yearly in May.

The event is the height of the North Carolina group's legislative outreach, Badalucco said.

"We're not the type of organization that has meetings, structures or dues," Badalucco said.

Kicking off at "high noon," according to the event flier, the rally began with a march from the Capitol to Wake County Courthouse.

Participants paraded down the mostly empty Raleigh streets with signs reading "Honk 4 Weed" and a depiction of the Statue of Liberty holding a marijuana leaf instead of a torch.

At 2:30 p.m., the first of seven bands, H.O.W., a self-described "stoner metal" band, kicked into its set list, which included the songs "Trip, International Drug Trade" and "Left Side Twisted."

Raleigh police escorted the parade. Police Lt. Doug Brugger said that there were no arrests and that protesters were peaceful and "well behaved."

The rally was held on the south lawn of the Capitol and staged around a statue of Confederate- era Gov. Zebulon Baird Vance.

H.O.W. and the next band, Git Lit, sang their pro-pot songs in front of an inscription of a Vance quote that read, "If there be a people on earth given a sober second of thought ... It is the people of North Carolina."