| Photo: NewsChannel 7 |
| Organizer Theresa Knox exhales at the demonstration in Boise last weekend |
A group of protesters smoked marijuana in downtown Boise, Idaho Saturday afternoon. Participants said they were lighting joints to make a point. They said smoking marijuana doesn’t hurt other people, so it should be legal.
Boise Police claimed they found out about the event on MySpace. That’s how they knew the time and place it would happen. Still, no arrests were made.
“Cannabis is a victimless crime,” protest organizer Theresa Knox told Toke of the Town. “In my opinion, a crime punishable by outrageous prison terms, loss of children, loss of jobs, education and employment, is one that included a victim — someone who was negatively affected by the ‘crime,’ or harmed.”
| Photo: Theresa Knox |
| Theresa Knox: “When I go to my dealer’s house and buy a bag of pot, no one is harmed” |
”When I go to my dealer’s house and buy a bag of pot, no one is harmed,” Knox, director of research and networking at Moms for Marijuana International, told us. “When I drive home with that pot in my car, no one is harmed. When I then smoke that pot in the comfort and privacy of my home — my castle — no one is harmed.”
“The only reason for any harm stemming from cannabis use is because cannabis is in the hands of the cartels and police,” Knox told Toke of the Town. “We were outside publicly smoking to show that no one was negatively affected by a group of people standing on the side of Front Street and smoking a jay.”
“Our public smokeout was a message to the government,” Knox told us. “The American public will no longer comply with cannabis prohibition.”
“We are not ashamed,” Knox said. “We are not ignorant. We are not lazy. And we won’t stop until the prohibition of cannabis is lifted.”
Boise Police patrol cars drove by several times during the demonstration. Two officers walked through the group asking people to stay out of the street.
When KTVB reporters asked officers why no one was arrested for smoking marijuana on a downtown street, police responded that they either need a formal citizen complaint or must actually see someone smoking pot.
Officers said they did not see anyone smoking marijuana while they were there.
Possession of small amounts of marijuana is a misdemeanor in Idaho, in most cases.