FLORIDA HEMPFEST CHANGES LEAN TOWARD POLITICAL

In 1994, Murli Watkins, aka The Doobie Tosser, was arrested for tossing
bags of marijuana joints to crowds at Hempfest. On Saturday, Watkins sat
back in a faded couch in the middle of the Downtown Plaza and watched two
children run around the lawn.

Marijuana-rights advocates held their 10th annual Hempfest Saturday, but
supporters said the atmosphere of the festival has changed over the years.

Today's Hempfest is more about political activism than civil disobedience,
and organizers spent their time Saturday gathering signatures for a medical
marijuana ballot petition.

"Things evolve. Things change," Watkins said. "Civil disobedience serves
its purpose, but now we have our living room set out here."

Jodi James, spokeswoman for the Coalition Advancing Medical Marijuana, said
organizers gathered between 300 and 400 signatures for the medical
marijuana petition. She said Gainesville always is considered a
"stronghold" of legalization support in the state.

"Everybody thinks this is the best party we've had in years," James said.

James said she hopes to teach people to become empowered to affect the
political process. She said it is up to the individual to make a difference.

"You can change the world in your own little corner," she said.

Local comedian Tom Miller, who co-hosted the party, said Hempfest
definitely has taken a different direction over the past several years. He
said organizers are trying to work within the political process.

This does not necessarily bother students. University of Florida education
graduate student Rochelle Rojas said you have to work within the system to
change it.

"Politics is what makes (marijuana) illegal," she said.

Rojas said she would like more support for hemp here, adding that most
college students have used marijuana.

Vendors from across the country attended the event. Sara Finnerly, a hemp
vendor from Maine, said the Gainesville Hempfest was one of the better
events she has attended.

Finnerly said she was involved in the drive to put medical marijuana on the
ballot in Maine. Voters in that state passed the initiative last week.

"You have to in some way or another go through political channels...you
start with events like this," Finnerly said.