The Hash Bash was a landmark counterculture event when it was launched at the University of Michigan on April 1, 1972. This year, organizers were openly hoping it would be the last one before cannabis is legalized in the Wolverine State \u2014 and urging a push to make it so.<\/p>\n
Thousands turned out for the event on April 7, which was accompanied by an indoor \u201cHash Bash Cup\u201d at an area hotel, the\u00a0official website<\/a>\u00a0notes. And it wasn\u2019t all scruffy hippies. Speakers included two Democratic candidates for Michigan governor \u2014 Gretchen Whitmer and Abdul El-Sayed \u2014 and a Democratic candidate for attorney general, Dana Nessel.<\/p>\n Unmistakable haze, scent hangs iver #hashbash<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/J5xXMychhX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) April 7, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n All spoke in support of the legalization initiative that activists are trying to get on the state ballot in November. El-Sayed emphasized that once the ballot proposal is passed, the state should expunge the records of those charged and convicted of cannabis violations. \u201cNo one should be left with an arrest record,\u201d he said, according to<\/a> the\u00a0Detroit Free Press.<\/p>\n The Free Press account noted the political diversity of the crowd \u2014 with at least one Trump supporter in a \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d cap. This was Jerome Bussell, manager of a medical marijuana dispensary in the town of Morenci. He told the Free Press: \u201cI hope Trump defunds [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions and the DOJ. He said he supported marijuana when he was trying to get elected. You kind of worry when you wear your Trump hat, but everybody\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n More reflective of the radical roots of Hash Bash was Adam Brook, a veteran organizer of the event. He exhorted that even if the initiative passes, the Hash Bash should live on as a gesture of defiance to the feds. \u201cSo next year, after they legalize pot in Michigan, come back with your friends, so we can say \u2018F-you\u2019 to the Man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jeff Hank, executive director of\u00a0MiLegalize<\/a>, one of the groups working for the ballot measure, said polling indicates 62 percent support for legalization.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people assume this is going to pass at the polls, but we can\u2019t be complacent,\u201d he told the Free Press. \u201cWe have to get out and vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In a similar spirit, the Bash\u2019s current lead organizer Mark Passerini, co-founder of Ann Arbor\u2019s\u00a0Om of Medicine<\/a>\u00a0cannabis dispensary, told news site\u00a0MLive<\/a>: \u201cThis could very well be the last year we focus on state prohibition and next year we could re-focus toward the ills of federal policy. Federal policy still sees cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug in all forms.\u201d<\/p>\n In a hopeful sign, there were no post busts at this year\u2019s Hash Bash.\u00a0MLive\u00a0reported<\/a> that there were two arrests, but not for marijuana. Police arrested a record 74 people at Hash Bash in 1999, and 56 in 2000. Only one person was arrested at last year\u2019s Bash.<\/p>\n The Hash Bash started as an activist campaign to free John Sinclair, the counterculture legend who had been sentenced to 10 years under Michigan\u2019s then-draconian pot laws for passing a joint to an undercover cop, according to<\/a> the Lansing State Journal. Sinclair served two-and-a-half years before a judge ordered him released in December 1971, while the state\u2019s marijuana law was up for review. Three days before his release, John Lennon and Yoko Ono performed at the\u00a0\u201cJohn Sinclair Freedom Rally\u201d\u00a0on the Ann Arbor campus. Three months after that, the Michigan Supreme Court declared the state\u2019s marijuana laws unconstitutional.<\/p>\n The 5th annual @a2hashbash<\/a> in 1976. Today marks No. 47 on the #Diag<\/a>. #AnnArbor<\/a> #UMich<\/a> #HashBash<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/B6mzRCPMg2<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 U-M Heritage Project (@umheritage) April 7, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Before a new law was passed, marijuana was technically completely legal in Michigan for three weeks. On April Fool\u2019s Day of 1972, the last day before the new law took effect, activists called for a \u201chashish festival\u201d at the University of Michigan \u2014 and the Hash Bash was born.<\/p>\n Later that same year,\u00a0Ann Arbor pioneered the decriminalization movement, becoming the first city in the United States to implement a \u201ctraffic-ticket\u201d marijuana ordinance \u2014 paving the way for other municipalities and eventually states to follow.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, even as activists aspire to a general statewide legalization, Michigan has unleashed a sweeping crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries. In March, state authorities began\u00a0issuing orders<\/a>\u00a0for dispensaries operating without licenses to close. These were outlets in a so-called \u201cgray zone,\u201d which had missed a Feb. 15 deadline for license application. A total of 208 dispensaries have now been shut down, according to<\/a>\u00a0WLUC-TV\u00a0in the Upper Peninsula. They report that\u00a0215 dispensaries remain open in the state.<\/p>\n In an interesting contrast to Michigan\u2019s Hash Bash, Denver\u2019s upcoming 420 event is this year\u00a0de-emphasizing<\/a>\u00a0politics and activism, with many considering the battle won now that Colorado has legalized. This example serves perhaps as a warning to Ann Arbor\u2019s Hash Bash\u00a0\u2014 that the event\u2019s activist focus might fade if Michigan legalizes adult-use marijuana later this year.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> do you think Michigan will legalize adult-use cannabis?<\/p>\n The post Michigan Hash Bash Pushes for Cannabis Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Hash Bash was a landmark counterculture event when it was launched at the University of Michigan on April 1, 1972. This year, organizers were openly hoping it would be the last one before cannabis is legalized in the Wolverine State \u2014 and urging a push to make it so.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3915,50,3835,69,901,179,3916],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25268,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25267\/revisions\/25268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Michigan Hash Bash Pushes for Cannabis Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"