More than 200 protesters chanting “What do we want? Drug peace! When do we want it? Now!” arrived at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza just after 12:30 p.m. Saturday, concluding Eugene’s third annual Peace March and beginning an afternoon of music and speakers advocating the legalization of hemp and marijuana.
Many of the marchers carried signs reading “Just Say Know” and balloons adorned with a drawing of a cannabis plant. Protesters filled the plaza, while many Saturday Market shoppers viewed the festivities with interest.
Eugene Police Department officer Rusty Foster said the marchers were cooperative in organizing the march. A police presence was established, however, to minimize any possible complications, he said.
Sandy Gonzalez, an information booth assistant at the Eugene Saturday Market, described the relationship between the marchers and the market as a “peaceful coexistence.”
After the group arrived at the plaza, the funk band The Thirteenth Tribe took the stage, singing a cover version of Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up.” One woman stood topless while listening to the music. The smell of marijuana was present but not predominant, as an occasional joint was passed around.
Eugene resident Dwayne Hill said the atmosphere at the rally was fun, but he questioned whether the march would make a difference.
“I think it’s a good mixture of both,” said the 25-year-old woodworker. “There’s definitely a good point to be made.” Gubernatorial candidate Richard Alevizos, the key speaker at the rally, said he’s a leader in the campaign to revoke marijuana prohibition.
“I’m blazing the way to legalization,” Alevizos said in a telephone interview.
The 36-year-old Marquette University graduate and current University student said he thinks he’s going to win the November general election with student support and because of his kinship with Oregon voters. Alevizos, who has not run for office before, said he will attract a majority of the vote because he has no political affiliation and because the state has already voted to legalize physician-assisted suicide and medical marijuana.
“The only party I’m going to have is when I win,” Alevizos said.

One of the organizers, local writer and publisher Kris Millegan, suggested that drugs be regulated by the government. With the situation as it is, he said, not only does prohibition not work, but it also creates a black market.
“The main message here is that things need to change,” Millegan said in a telephone interview. “We need to do something different. The vice-cop model doesn’t work.”
Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and opium sell for higher values than gold, he said. Millegan stressed that marijuana should be legalized, with state involvement in both regulation and taxation.
Jonathan Gutstadt, office manager of the student group Hemp Education Network, said hemp should be legalized because it would stimulate the Oregon economy, because incarcerating offenders is a waste of taxpayers’ money and because it is a constitutional right.
“We’re putting people in jail for a victimless crime,” said Gutstadt, a University alumnus, in a telephone interview. “Nobody gets hurt.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the chronic effects of marijuana use include short-term memory impairment, impaired immune responses, impaired lung functioning, cancer and other lung diseases, decreased sperm count and interference with ovulation.
The annual march is held nationwide on the first Saturday of May. Originally founded in New York City, this year’s march was held in 193 cities on six continents. The local march began at 24th Avenue and Amazon Parkway.