MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH TO BE HELD IN RAPID CITY

Part Of Worldwide Event On May 4, 2002

RAPID CITY SD -- "High school students SHOULD be distributing literature
about the Million Marijuana March. They're the people most at risk from the
current insane governmental policies," Bob Newland said today in response
to a question as to whether he was concerned about youngsters passing out
announcements which contain a cannabis leaf graphic.

Newland, 54, of Hermosa (SD), is the president of SoDakNORML, an affiliate
of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
SoDakNORML is the organizing entity which committed to stage a march
coinciding with marches in over 160 cities worldwide.

Participants in Rapid City's segment of the Million Marijuana March will
begin gathering at 3:30 p.m. May 4 at the intersection of Sixth and
Columbus Streets. The march will begin at 4:20 p.m. and will proceed north
on Sixth Street to Memorial Park near the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. MMM
literature advertises an "accoustic jam" in Memorial Park following the march.

First staged in 1997, the Million Marijuana March is the best-known single
event in the world centering on law reform with respect to the cannabis
plant. New York resident Dana Beal, an authority on naturopathic and
homeopathic therapies, has stage-managed the event since its inception.
Further information on Beal and the history of the MMM can be obtained at
http://www.cures-not-wars.org/.

Newland said he decided to manage the Rapid City event because, "We have
decided to do whatever it takes to get the attention of the politicians,
and make them aware of the massive damage being done to all of us because
of the misguided prohibition of some psychoactive substances, of which
cannabis -- or marijuana, as the politicians like to call it -- is
certainly the most benign."

"I'm aware," Newland said, "that, for many folks, this will be tantamount
to my revealing a tail and horns and seeking to lead innocent youth to give
up their souls. However, the very youth who currently are distributing
flyers and posting posters are those most at risk to be damaged by the
so-called 'war on [some] drugs'.

"Current drug policy provides huge profits to those who dare to take the
risks of providing cannabis to anyone who will purchase it. Since there is
no governmental oversight, cannabis dealers -- who often deal in other
illicit drugs as well -- are available all the time, everywhere. High
school kids often say that cannabis is easier to obtain than alcohol."

"Furthermore," Newland said, "students are subjected to a bunch of
punishments not afforded to adults convicted of possession of marijuana.
Their drivers licenses are suspended or revoked, they are expelled from
extra-curricular activities, and they are barred from obtaining
government-guaranteed student loans. Thieves and aggravated-assaulters are
not barred from obtaining student loans, but a person caught once smoking
pot will be. That is nuts.

"The Million Marijuana March is simply an opportunity for anyone who wants
to publicly and in an orderly fashion make the statement that he or she
thinks that enough is enough. We're tired of being vilified -- not just for
smoking pot, but for even daring to criticize the most massive failure of
public policy in the nation's history. Alcohol Prohibition was a tragic
failure, but it was merely a warm-up for the death, destruction, and
corruption wrought by the past thirty years of ever-increasingly vicious
drug law enactment, prosecution and enforcement."

According to Newland, there has been a marijuana arrest in the United
States every 50 seconds for the past four years, 85 per cent of which were
merely for possession. Newland also said, "We have only five per cent of
the planer's population, but we have 25 per cent of the world's prisoners
- -- over two million and rising. We have more prisoners than the whole
European Union, which has four times our population. The majority of our
prisoners are in for non-violent sale or possession charges."

During the past four sessions of the South Dakota legislature, Newland has
been a familiar figure, lobbying for industrial hemp and medical cannabis
bills. "Legislators have derided us and have killed our bills after
listening to credible witnesses testify as to the industrial and medical
efficacy of cannabis," Newland said. "Meanwhile, we continue to import hemp
from abroad and from Canada. Meanwhile, people with medical conditions are
treating themselves with cannabis which they buy on the street, and for
which they face jail sentences. Meanwhile, the government continues to
churn out lie after lie about the most versatile plant God created.

"All these issues are what the Million Marijuana March was organized to
dramatize. Call the march 'radiation therapy', if you will, for the
societally-destructive cancer of prohibition of some substances -- a public
policy which has provided no benefits, but which has caused
incomprehensible evils."

For further information about the Rapid City segment of the Million
Marijuana March, see (http://www.sodaknorml.org/mmm2002.htm), or call Bob
Newland at 605-255-4032.