[420 Girl]

Advocates of liberalizing marijuana laws plan to march today from Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill to Westlake Park in downtown Seattle. The march begins at 1 p.m., with speeches at Westlake Park scheduled from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The event coincides with similar "Marijuana Liberation Day" events in as many as 200 other cities nationwide, according to organizers.

Seattle's march was organized largely by people who use medical marijuana, and it coincides with the death of musician Timothy Garon. Garon, 56, died this week after complaining that he had been denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana to ease the nausea and abdominal pain associated with his advanced hepatitis C.

Organizer Vivian McPeak said the goal today is to "end the prohibition" on medical marijuana, eliminate jail sentences for nonviolent marijuana-possession charges and legalize the production of industrial hemp.

Marijuana activism is associated with hippies and the 1960s counterculture, McPeak said, but "the reality is, people from all walks of life support this law, people from all walks of life know people who need medicinal marijuana, people from all walks of life know someone who has been needlessly incarcerated" for marijuana use.

Several local political leaders are expected at today's rally, including City Councilman Nick Licata, King County Councilman Larry Gossett and Democratic state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles.

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