Hash Bash
Hash Bash is an annual event held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the first Saturday of April at high noon on the University of Michigan Diag. A collection of speeches, live music, street vending and some occasional civil disobedience are centered on the goal of reforming federal, state, and local marijuana laws. The first Hash Bash was held on Saturday, April 1st 1972 in response to the March 9th 1972 decision by Michigan Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional the law used to convict cultural activist John Sinclair for possession of two marijuana joints. This action left the State of Michigan without a law prohibiting the use of marijuana until after the weekend of April 1 1972.[1] Chef Ra was a fixture of the Hash Bash for 19 consecutive years before his death in late 2006.[2]
Ann Arbor has very lenient laws regarding the possession of marijuana – a $25 fine first $50 second $100 third (and subsequent) offense -- and is a simple civil infraction rather than a criminal offense, such as misdemeanor or felony (see Marijuana laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan). Even so, the campus of the University of Michigan sits upon state property, and so anyone caught with marijuana on any campus location is subject to the more strict state marijuana laws. As this is the case, there is a separate but heavily related event following Hash Bash just off campus known as the Monroe Street Fair, where there is usually a live show accompanying the many street vendors selling extravagant bongs and other paraphernalia, along with a Michigan NORML booth.
The second annual Hash Bash, in 1973, attracted approximately 3,000 participants. That year, state representative Perry Bullard, a proponent of marijuana legalization, attended and smoked marijuana,[3] an act which later earned him criticism from political opponents.[4]
Hash Bash participants did not encounter significant police interference until the seventh annual event, in 1978, when local police booked, cited, photographed, and released those participants alleged to be using illegal substances.[5]
Recent Hash Bash Dates
- 2007: 35th annual - April 7 - memorial to Chef Ra
- 2006: 34th annual - April 1
- 2005: 33th annual - April 2
- 2004: 32rd annual - April 3
- 2003: 31nd annual - April 5
- 2002: 30st annual - April 6 - Chef Ra's report
2008 Hash Bash
The 2008 Hash Bash will be held on Saturday, April 5th on the Diag. The event will start at High Noon on the diag. [6]
The organizers of Hash Bash 2008 were unable to secure the diag for the event on Saturday, April 5. This happened because an undisclosed student organization had already reserved the diag for the entire day, since last Fall, 2007[7] (see Article[1]) This student organization will be holding it's own unrelated rally, and has also secured the only permit to use loudspeakers, which means Hash Bash will not be able to have a sound system.
The organizers still plan on holding the event in the same place at the same time, and in the event that it is a legitimate cause that the student organization is vying for, they plan to respect it. "... people will come anyway," said Adam Brooks, the emcee of Hash Bash for the past few years.
This year's Hash Bash features John Sinclair, who was arrested in 1969 for the possession of two joints of marijuana.
External links
- Monroe Street Fair official site
- "Pro-pot event gets touch of Hollywood" - Geoff Larcom for the Ann Arbor News, April 8, 2007.
References
- ^ Allison Pincus, "The First 'High Noon' March," Michigan Daily, 4 Apr. 2007.
- ^ "36th Annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash" (Press release). Michigan NORML. 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- ^ "3,000 Hold 'Hashbash' at Michigan," Chicago Tribune, 2 Apr. 1973, p. 14.
- ^ Associated Press, "Former Ann Arbor Rep. dies at age 56," Michigan Daily, 19 Oct. 1998.
- ^ "Around the Nation: Police Arrest Drug Users at Michigan 'Hash Bash,'" New York Times, 3 Apr. 1978, p. A14.
- ^ Connexion | Facebook
- ^ http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1206772831249420.xml&coll=2 Ann Arbor News, March 30, 2008