The cloudy skies and rainy weather didn’t prevent thousands of marijuana lovers from gathering in Ann Arbor on Saturday to light a few joints and listen to activists speak about a variety of cannabis topics.
The annual event took place at the Diag on the University of Michigan campus with countless vendors, musicians and speakers including marijuana activists Matthew Abel, Tim Beck, Chuck Ream and Rick Thompson.
Ash Daniels with Michigan Liberation also spoke at the rally as the organization is dedicated to ending mass incarceration and over policing through abolition.
Daniels is currently working on a campaign called Care Not, Criminalization, which began shortly after the organization was established in 2018, and has grown over time.
“That campaign is working towards ending the criminalization of mental health and substance use because we know you can’t get well in a cell,” she said. “We also know and recognize the stigma behind these things is just as dangerous and that stigma actually created a lot of barriers in preventing people from recovering, going to go get treatment, or seeking help.”
According to Daniels, she was giving out free Narcan at Hash Bash and most enjoyed being surrounded by like-minded people.
“I know and recognize that most people use some form of drugs and it’s just a reminder of how if we work together as a community, that we can have this community feeling,” Daniels said. “We can openly and freely talk about or even partake in doing these things whether it’s marijuana or psychedelics and do it in a safe way.”
Source : Marina Johnson, “Annual Hash Bash returns to downtown Ann Arbor”, Detroit Free Press, April 1, 2023.