INDReporter

Pot pep rally set for Saturday

by Walter Pierce

Supporters of the legalization of marijuana use for both medicinal and recreational purposes will hold rallies across Louisiana this weekend.

Supporters of the legalization of marijuana use for both medicinal and recreational purposes will hold rallies across Louisiana Saturday afternoon. Organized by Legalize Louisiana, the statewide Rally for Cannabis Rights will hold events in Lafayette and four other cities. Locally, the rally begins at 3 p.m. at Girard Park. According to a press release by the group:

[Legalize Louisiana] demands policies creating safe and free access to cannabis medicine for the promotion of human health in Louisiana; industrial hemp should be utilized to boost our state's economy and the health of her ecosystems; personal use should be decriminalized, and commercial sales should be taxed and regulated, which will create justice where there is now abuse and, simultaneously, reduce Louisiana's world-record incarceration rates. Religious use of cannabis is an inalienable right protected by our State and Federal Constitutions, by the Religious Freedoms Restoration Act, and our justice system professionals are all oath-bound to realize the letter and spirit of these most high and sacred laws. The group was founded two years ago by Monroe resident Donnie Griffith, who recently told The Times in Shreveport, ""We need to take the patients off the battlefield in the war on drugs."