Atlanta pro-pot group sets down new roots

In its 22-year history of advocating for marijuana decriminalization, the Atlanta-based Coalition for the Abolition of Marijuana Prohibition has often spent as much time fighting City Hall over access to public parks for its annual Great Atlanta Pot Festival as it has working to educate the public about the benefits of pot. Now, the organization is ready to tackle prohibitionists in North Carolina, too, says CAMP festival organizer Paul Cornwell. Students from UNC-Charlotte and another community college who traveled to Atlanta for the 2000 Pot Fest in May asked to form their own chapter; CAMP was happy to oblige.

“It’s a very robust, well-educated group,” says Cornwell. “Very well-organized for such a young group.”

If the new CAMP runs into problems like its parent group has, that youthful stamina may well be needed. Earlier this year, a federal judge awarded CAMP $47,857 in a suit filed against the City of Atlanta over its efforts to shut down the 1995 Pot Fest, ending five years of litigation.