Alonzo Small

The News Journal

Dozens rallied in Newark Sunday, calling for the legalization of cannabis on the eve of the 83rd anniversary of the end of alcohol prohibition. The 18th Amendment ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages highlights what advocates and supporters feel is the growing “hypocrisy of cannabis prohibition," throughout many of the United States.

Hosted by Cannabis Bureau of Delaware, the rally aimed to inform the public how legal marijuana consumption in Delaware can come to fruition.

Zoe Patchell, co-chairman of Cannabis Bureau of Delaware, said it begins with contacting state representatives and legislators in support of legalization and distribution of information aiding their cause.

Held for the third consecutive year, the Repeal Day Rally's audience has grown each year, Patchell said, which she believes is a sign that more people feel comfortable speaking out against the injustice of cannabis prohibition.

"Cannabis prohibition is just as ineffective and problematic as alcohol prohibition and it's causing negative consequences to our communities here in Delaware and wasting millions in resources and police manpower," she added.

"Right now we have 61 percent of Delawareans that support taxing regulated cannabis like alcohol," Patchell said.

After the hour-and-a-half rally concluded, gatherers marched down Main Street.

The group has bipartisan support in the General Assembly to pass a taxation and regulation bill in 2017, according to Patchell. Delaware is not a voter-initiative state, so supporters are trying to make Delaware the first state to legalize marijuana through legislation.

The legalization of marijuana use in Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, California, Nevada, and Maine was voted upon. All are taxed and regulated similarly to alcohol and tobacco.

The News Journal reported in October that a bill legalizing marijuana for Delaware adults 21 and over is expected to be introduced in January to the General Assembly.

Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington, who penned Delaware's medical marijuana bill, said she will propose a bill.

Cynthia Ferguson has lived in Delaware for more than 30 years and she believes 2017 will be the year marijuana is legalized in the First State.

"Cannabis is here to stay, and not only should people accept, they should realize that it is not a demon drug," the 56-year-old said.

Michael Adams, 35, of Newark, is a medical marijuana patient and said he still senses a stigma when he goes to retrieve his legally prescribed medication.

“I think that legalizing marijuana will help all medical patients,” Adams said, “and I don’t think it is nearly as dangerous as alcohol or tobacco.”

It was Adams' first time attending a rally in support of marijuana and he was encouraged by the discussion.

“It’s a bunch of like-minded people, talking and supporting one another in an effort to work towards a legalization that perhaps should have happened a long time ago,” Adams said.

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Handouts cited a 2010 Centers for Disease Control report that stated upward of 25,000 people died of alcohol-induced causes that year. In contrast, no deaths from an overdose of marijuana have been reported by the U.S Department of Justice, according to the DEA.

“There are no published studies of oral marijuana ingestion and cancer risk,” according to the American Cancer Society in 2015. “Nor are there any studies of vaporized marijuana and cancer risk.”

If alcohol and tobacco can be enjoyed in moderation, why can’t marijuana? That's the question Johnathan Zatwarnytsky has asked for four years with seemingly no direct answer.

"Alcohol is a relaxant and a substance that people have consumed for many thousands of years, and it’s totally accepted in modern society," says Zatwarnytsky. The 34-year-old is a board member of Delaware NORML, a local chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws.

“It’s not like the perfect thing, overuse of anything can be dangerous, but the evidence has not shown it to be devastating, damaging or destructive, any more so than any other drug,” Zatwarnytsky said.

RELATED: Poll: Delawareans are pro pot, death penalty in murders

Contact Alonzo Small at (302) 324-2856 or asmall@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @P_AlonzoSmall.