Source: Queen Anne News
Contact: qanews@seanet.com

Hempfest returns to Myrtle Edwards

By Russ Zabel

The Seattle Hempfest is back after a year's absence, and promoters of
the event are buoyed by a change in the public's attitude about
marijuana, especially for medical uses, said Vivian McPeak one of the
festival's organizers.

Scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, in
Myrtle Edwards Park, Seattle Hempfest '97 will feature bands, food
booths and special guestspeakers such as Jack Herer, founder of the
hempreform movement and author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothing" a
book that traces the history and criminalization of marijuana in
America.

Also included this year is a hemp fashion show Friday night at the
Catwalk Club in Pioneer Square, along with a twoday symposium
starting at noon this Thursday and Friday at Seattle Central Community
College. Live Internet audio and video coverage of the events also
will be featured this year, McPeak said.

Washington Citizens for Hemp Reform is the group that organized the
Hempfest, and it lobbies for changes in current drug laws concerning
the intoxicant, marijuana, and nonpsychoactive hemp, which comes from
the same plant but is used to make rope or cloth for example.

McPeak thinks there's a chance the laws about marijuana and hemp can
be changed. He points to ballot measures about medional use of grass
that passed in California and Arizona as proof, along with a similar
ballot measure up for a vote in this state next election.

"I think that the hemp movement (wasn't) recognized as a viable,
legitimate political force until now," he said. To gauge that belief,
McPeak said, the Hempfest organizers took last year off and prepared a
statewide voters' guide about the issue by contacting Washington state
legislators and candidates for legislative seats.

"We got an 8percent response rate, which is higher than I expected."
he said of the more or less evenly divided bipartisan replies. The
majority supported the medical use of marijuana, a good many approved
of industrial use, but no one supported recreational use for adults,
McPeak said.

However, several legislators and candidates responding to the
recreationaluse issue added little notes on the side of the survey
saying, "not quite yet" McPeak said. "I thought that was astounding".

McPeak said Washington Citizens for Hemp Reform does not officially
support the Washingtonstate ballot measure calling for medical use of
marijuana, along with partial decriminalization for nonviolent, first
time drug offenders. Nor does it officially support an initiative
still gathering signatures that would place grass on the same legal
footing as alcohol.

"Obviously we support the reform of America's marijuana laws, and
these two are good steps in that direction," he said of the ballot
measure and the initiative. Instead, his organiration provides a
public forum where people can make up their own minds, McPeak said.

Providing that public forum in Myrtle Edwards Park two years ago
sparked complaints beforehand and afterward from some Queen Anne
residents and business people. McPeak is keenly aware of that and
admits there were three drugrelated arrests at the last Hempfest,
along with 50 citations for lighting up a bowl or a goint at the
wellattended event.

He also concedes many speeches were laced with profanity. This year,
however, there are strong guidelines for speakers and the bands, some
members of which were responsible for some of the worst language two
years ago, McPeak said. "We are strongly discouraging profanity and
derogatory remarks directed toward any city officials," he said.

McPeak also said there will be roughly five times as many private
Security staffers on duty this year, along with 200 of the Hempfest
volunfeers. Signs also will be posted at either end of Myrtle Edwards
Park warning people that no controlled substances, alcohol or weapons
will be allowed at the gathering he said.

"We take very seriously the responsibility we have to our participants
and the residential and business communities surrounding us, and the
city of Seattle, to produce a professional and safe public event,"
McPeak added.

One of the keynote speakers at the Seattle Central Community College
symposium will be Ralph Seeley, a terminal cancer patient who recently
lost a state Supreme Court appeal over his conviction for possession
and use of marijuana, which he says is needed to alleviate symptoms
caused by his medical treatment.

"The Seeley case demonstrates the irrational heartlessness of our
current drug policy," McPeak said. But while Seeley lost his case,
there is growing support for the use of marijuana for medical
purposes. The National Institutes of Health recently came out with a
recommendation that marijuana be studied further for its medical
qualities, and a recent Evans/McDonald poll in Washington state found
that 74 percent of the respondents supported making marijuana legally
available for medical uses.

Washington state legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl, DQueen
Anne, and Sen. Bob McCaslin RSpokane, sets aside money for two
studies about the issue. One study at Washington State University
involves coming up with a means of supplying a tamperfree source of
marijuana for medical studies.

The WSU study, however, was judged to be seriously flawed, according
to peerreview papers. The second study, at the University of
Washington, involves a clinical study of the effectiveness of
marijuana for medical treatment. "We still need approval of the
Federal Drug Administration, and that's been a bit of a barrier," Kohl
said of the UW study.

McPeak expects there will be opposition to the Washington state ballot
measure about medical use of marijuana. "I anticipate a tidal wave of
money and negative publicity from the opposition," he said.

Indeed, former presidential candidate Steve Forbes has announced plans
to finance a campaign against the ballot measure in Washington. McPeak
also predicts supporters of the ballot measure will have their hands
full fighting what he called a "disinformation campaign."

Still, McPeak is confident there is a chance the measure will pass, as
similar ones did in California and Arizona. "Fortunately, they will be
using the same, oldfashioned, wornout rhetoric he said of the
opposition.