cannabisnews.com: Hempfest Pushes Fall Ballot Measure Hempfest Pushes Fall Ballot Measure Posted by CN Staff on August 19, 2002 at 08:41:11 PT By Neil Modie, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer "Come out of the closet" about marijuana use was the theme of this year's Seattle Hempfest, the fragrant annual waterfront event. And at least several of the tens of thousands of festival-goers did come out of the closet. And went into jail.While Seattle police kept a low profile and commended Hempfest sponsors for an orderly, well-organized event Saturday and yesterday, it was clear that Initiative 75 -- a top political priority of the festival's promoters -- isn't law yet, if it ever will be. If I-75 gains enough voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot and Seattle residents approve it, it would make adult possession of small amounts of marijuana the city's lowest law enforcement priority. At Myrtle Edwards Park yesterday, as I-75 proponents circulated petitions to put it on the ballot, it wasn't yet the lowest priority.Police, following a "zero tolerance" policy, arrested four people Saturday and four more yesterday as of 5:45 p.m. One was busted on suspicion of smoking marijuana and the other seven on suspicion of selling marijuana to undercover officers, according to patrol Lt. Daniel Whelan.Those seven wouldn't have been protected by I-75 anyway, of course, since it would de-emphasize only personal possession. Whelan said one of the illicit entrepreneurs had 2 pounds of marijuana, packaged for sale, in his backpack.Overall, however, the lieutenant said there were "very few problems and everyone seems to be very well-behaved" -- despite what Hempfest promoters estimated was a two-day turnout exceeding 150,000 for what they called "the nation's largest drug policy reform event."Keith Stroup, founder and director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, the nation's most prominent marijuana-law group, proclaimed it "the biggest and the finest pro-hemp event in the world." He told the crowd that the laws should be changed because, among other things, one-third of all adult Americans have used marijuana at some time in their lives.Whelan said the "charged political nature of the event" seemed to prompt Hempfest organizers to go out of their way to ensure that the festival's 1,000-strong volunteer staff cooperated with police.Most festival-goers were there perhaps less for the political cause than for the non-stop music, the food, the spectacle and the mellow, '60s-throwback ambience.As usual, the scent of marijuana wafted among Hempfest's crowded, mile-long strip of musical and speaking stages and vendors' tents and booths. The latter's wares included hemp T-shirts and bags, hemp chocolate-covered bananas, hemp-seed brownies, marijuana water pipes, silk marijuana-leaf leis and tie-dyed underwear.More than 50 political organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and NORML, took part as did more than 50 musical groups, sharing seven stages with about 50 speakers. Speaker after speaker, including City Councilman Nick Licata, urged the crowds to sign Initiative 75 petitions and vote for it."The war on drugs is a miserable war. It's a racist war," Licata told the crowd. "We here in Seattle, with Initiative 75, are going to be the first to change it."As Licata spoke, a few in his audience lit up and passed around joints, despite what Whelan said were instructions to police officers to "take action if they see anyone smoking marijuana.""Of course," he added, "when you smell marijuana smoke, you don't always see who's smoking it."Dominic Holden, director of Hempfest and campaign manager of Sensible Seattle, sponsor of Initiative 75, said this 11th annual festival sought to encourage adults who smoke pot to "come out of the closet on marijuana and admit that they are responsible marijuana users," and demand that they no longer be treated as criminals.I-75 sponsors have until Thursday to turn in the 17,228 signatures they need to qualify for the ballot. They submitted 19,600 signatures Aug. 2, but Matt Fox, the campaign coordinator, said about 5,000 were found to be invalid. Fox said a professional signature-gathering firm has been hired, and he and Holden expressed confidence that names collected at Hempfest should give them enough.Hempfest was a bazaar for a variety of causes, mostly marijuana-related, including that of a forlorn man who would identify himself only as Tod. He held up a cup for donations and a cardboard sign identifying himself as a "refugee/P.O.W. of war on pot" who was betrayed by a friend and unwittingly delivered 40 pounds of pot to undercover police officers."Results: 7 months in jail! 10 years probation! $5,000 fine! And I'm broke!" the sign said.Tod, 31, said he got out of jail six months ago and has five years to pay the fine. After two hours at Hempfest, he had collected $25.Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)Author: Neil Modie, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter Published: Monday, August 19, 2002Copyright: 2002 Seattle Post-IntelligencerContact: editpage seattle-pi.comWebsite: http://www.seattle-pi.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Seattle Hempfesthttp://www.seattlehempfest.com/Hempfest Crowd Rallies for Pot-Policy Reform http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13796.shtmlThousands Attend Hempfest in Seattlehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13791.shtmlMarijuana Backers Pack Park in Seattlehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13783.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment