SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
She holds her homemade sign high as she leads a parade of about 20 people around downtown, chanting pro-marijuana slogans such as "realize and legalize."
Jarrod Klinger was among about 30 Yellowknifers who gathered at Somba K'e Park on Saturday to show their support for the legalization of marijuana. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo
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A driver in a passing car lays on the horn to show support and the group of parents, middle-aged folks, twenty-somethings and teens give a big cheer, excited by the attention. The marchers carry on their set path and back to Somba K'e Park where protest organizer Kim MacNearney jumps up on a slab of concrete.
From her elevated position she pumps up the crowd as she calls for the legalization of marijuana.
"It's just a plant. It's not a big scary thing like the Reefer Madness days make it out to be," MacNearney said later in the day, referring to the 1936 anti-marijuana film.
"It really is something that can be done responsibly and it is something that needs to be removed from the criminal element."
MacNearney holds a medical marijuana licence and uses the herb to deal with her chronic pain. Last year, she held a one-woman protest to end the prohibition of marijuana. This time around, 20 residents joined her on a peaceful march and even more gathered by the white tent she setup at the amphitheatre in Somba K'e Civc Plaza outside city hall.
MacNearney attributes the increased support to media attention and a monetary donation from Bob Erb, a B.C. lottery winner who pledged $1 million of his winnings to end the criminal prohibition of cannabis. MacNearney used the $750 from Erb to purchase posters, swag and cake as well as rent the site and tent.
Among the crowd of protestors who attended the rally Saturday in Somba K'e Park was Renee Thomas, who believes the plant should be legalized for the sake of the greater good. It would empty out the jails and taxes from cannabis sales could be used to fund solutions for social problems, Thomas said.
Plus, she said, it's safer to use than alcohol and cigarettes.
"It just makes sense to legalize it," she said.
Marcher Marie-Joie Renaud took a different stance on the issue. The former Montrealer said she doesn't believe the plant should be made legal for personal use but wants it to be more readily available for medical purposes.
"What I would like is that anybody who needs it would be able to use it," said Renaud.
Currently, the federal government only issues medical marijuana licenses to Canadians who are seriously ill and who have the support of a licensed doctor. The patient and medical practitioner must also state that conventional treatments for certain symptoms, which are laid out on the Health Canada website, have proven "ineffective" or "medically inappropriate" for the person's particular condition.
The rules surrounding medical marijuana licensing are very limiting, said MacNearney.
"It puts the physician as the gatekeeper," she said. "So you can have all of your forms filled out and all of your ducks lined up in a row but if your doctor just really doesn't agree with marijuana or medical marijuana then you can't access it because they have to sign."
The rally wrapped up at 4:20 p.m. and although the smell of joints being lit was noticeable throughout the day nobody was arrested. MacNearney said she plans to continue the protest next year and every year after.
