cannabisnews.com: Rally Calls For Reform of Marijuana Law 





Rally Calls For Reform of Marijuana Law 
Posted by CN Staff on August 28, 2003 at 09:58:57 PT
By Russ Zabel
Source: Queen Anne and Magnolia News 
The 12th Annual Hempfest packed Myrtle Edwards Park with an estimated 175,000 people last weekend for what organizers and other sources say is the world's largest rally to reform marijuana laws.The festival is billed as a nonpartisan, political event, but a smattering of impeach Bush signs dotted a landscape filled with food and craft booths, music stages and huge, sun-baked crowds of people, some of whom discreetly puffed away on grass.
The festival's theme last year was Pot Pride, with everyday citizens being encouraged to publicly admit they use marijuana. This year's theme was using hemp as fuel, said Vivian McPeak, executive director and founder of the Hempfest, which began in Volunteer Park as a "smoke-out" in 1991.Festival organizers chose hemp fuel as a theme "after seeing a war arguably fought over oil," he said. But using hemp to make biodiesel fuel that can power car engines wasn't talked about very much.Neither was Initiative 75, which would place prosecution for marijuana possession at the bottom of the priority list for Seattle police and prosecutors. "It's on the ballot, and we're feeling good about it," McPeak said. "We've got our fingers crossed."The initiative is opposed by King County Prosecutor and Magnolia resident Norm Maleng, while it is supported by, among other politicians, State Senator and Queen Anne resident Jeanne Kohl-Welles.But the Sensible Seattle Coalition, which is spearheading the I-75 campaign, decided to take a low-key approach at the Hempfest, McPeak said.That doesn't signal political backpedaling on the part of Hempfest organizers in the dozen years since the festival began, he stressed. "We've gotten ever fiercer in our political tone."However, there were practical, demographic considerations for not promoting I-75 at the gathering, according to Hempfest director Dominic Holden. "When you look at who votes in the primary, they are predominately over 65 and overwhelmingly over 50," he said.The crowds at Hempfest fall mostly in a younger age range, Holden noted, adding that the influence of the festival extends past just Seattle. "Increasingly, the Hempfest has become a national event, and we wanted to talk to people about events that affect the whole country." Pumping Hemp For example, the proposal to use industrial hemp as a source of fuel is one that has national and international implications, according to Holden. Echoing McPeak, he said the war in Iraq was fought in part to bring democracy to the oil-rich Middle Eastern country. "But I think many of us realize there's an underlying interest in maintaining access to petroleum-based fuel."Converting hemp to biofuel could eliminate the need, Holden said. If 6 percent of farmland in America was converted to hemp production, the resulting crop could provide enough bio-diesel fuel to make the country completely independent of foreign oil, he said.Biodiesel is also a clean fuel that doesn't pollute the air as petroleum does, and it's a renewable resource, Holden added. However, the federal government makes no distinction between growing smokeable pot and industrial hemp, which lacks psychoactive ingredients, he said. "The THC content is so low you'd never get high."Hemp oil has already been used to power a 1983 Mercedes Benz turbo diesel, which was renamed "Hemp-car" and toured the country and Canada in 2001, Holden said. Rubber hoses on the Mercedes engine had to be replaced because biofuel can eat through them, but no other mechanical changes had to be made to burn the hemp-based fuel. "It smells like you're cooking French fries," he said of the exhaust. The Bong Ban In past years, crafts at the Hempfest included pipes, bongs and the occasional hooka. Last year, those sales generated around $20,000 for the Hempfest, which cost around $180,000 to stage this year, McPeak said. But the organization's legal staff recommended against allowing those sales this summer, he said.That's because the federal government recently passed the Anti-Drug Proliferation Act. Also known as the RAVE Act, McPeak said, the legislation spawned Operation Pipe Dream and Operation Head Hunter in Washington state, where retailers and wholesalers and retailers of drug paraphernalia such as bongs were targeted for arrest and prosecution."We believe challenges to this law will be successful," Holden said. In the meantime, he said, it was in the best interests of everyone at the Hempfest not to risk a confrontation with legal authorities.McPeak predicted the RAVE Act will be struck down on constitutional grounds. "When the law is changed, we'll have the biggest head shop in the whole freaking world," he told an enormous crowd gathered at the main stage on Saturday afternoon. Rally NORML-ized Also speaking to the large crowd at the main stage was Keith Stroup, founder and executive director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)."I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with smoking pot," he said, "and it's time we stopped being treated like criminals." There is an arrest every 44 seconds in this country for marijuana offenses, which amounted to 724,000 busts last year, Stroup said.Of those, 89 percent were for simple possession, he said, adding that around 100 million Americans have admitted that they've smoked pot. "We have declared war on a whole sector of our population, and there's no reason for it."Three out of four people in the country believe those caught for pot possession or use should be fined, not arrested or jailed, according to Stroup. "We have won the hearts and minds of the American people" is how he put it.McPeak agreed. A recent CNN Money Line poll revealed that 91 of those who responded thought marijuana should be legalized, he said. "We are winning this battle."It hasn't been an easy fight, according to Holden, who told the crowd he no longer smokes pot. "We battle against the forces of darkness who have denied us our constitutional rights," he said of the Bush White House. Star Treatment While Holden no longer smokes grass, it was obvious to everyone in the crowd that guest speaker and TV and film star Woody Harrelson had indulged quite a bit before he showed up at the Hempfest almost an hour past his scheduled time slot.The well-known marijuana activist also ragged on the Bush White House, saying it was time for people to step up and say "the little shrub monkey's" drug policies are wrong.Harrelson told the crowd they might get the impression from the Bush administration that those opposed to marijuana laws are a minority in the country. "I would say it's the majority," he said. "Let's figure out together what we can do to change things, and they need to be changed."McPeak said some people shouldn't smoke pot. "It's not for everybody." But those who do smoke grass are not criminals, he insisted, and they should fight for their rights. "We are Americans, and we have a history of demanding our freedom when it's denied," McPeak noted.Complete Title: Hempfest 2003 - Rally Calls For Reform of Marijuana Law For 22nd Straight YearSource: Queen Anne and Magnolia News (Seattle, WA)Author: Russ ZabelPublished: August 20, 2003Copyright: 2003 Queen Anne and Magnolia NewsContact: qanews nwlink.comWebsite: http://www.queenannenews.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Hemp Carhttp://www.hempcar.org/Seattle Hempfesthttp://www.hempfest.org/Pro-Pot Initiative Gets Political Push http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17089.shtmlPolitical Aroma Detected at Hempfesthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17088.shtmlHempfest Pushes Fall Ballot Measurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17086.shtml 
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