End of an Era:

ANNUAL HEMPFEST FESTIVITIES WILL CEASE THIS YEAR

Ontario Provincial Police have harshed the Hempfest buzz once too
often, say event organizers who plan to make this year's celebration
of medicinal marijuana the region's last.

In recent years, the four-day event has been the focus of what
organizer Rob Waddell contends is unwarranted police presence, with
RIDE checks that focus on "interrogation," and hindering access,
rather than weeding out impaired drivers.

"It's the harassment of people travelling to and from the festival.
The constitution and Charter of Rights guarantee us the right to
gather peacefully and demonstrate against unjust laws, which we're
doing," said Waddell.

"The police keep interfering with our people and the right to gather."

The event takes place in August in a remote area northeast of the
Sault and focuses on efforts to make it easier to use marijuana
medically, though Wadell admits there is "a little bit of recreational too."

Police in the region have said Hempfest is treated like any other
event of a similar scope. Last year, OPP laid dozens of charges,
mostly for motor vehicle infractions, and a handful of drug-related offences.

Waddell said the vehicle infractions and questioning of vehicle
occupants are "petty things,"meant to interfere with a staunchly
pro-marijuana event, and questioned why OPP have been accompanied by
law enforcement from the U. S.

"They're targeting the sick. We're not a bunch of crazies out in the
bush, getting stoned and running around, it's (mostly) people that
are 35 to 60 years old that are out there and (having) just a great
weekend of educating each other and talking about friends and talking
about the benefits and the situations that are arising about the
medical use of cannabis in Canada," said Waddell.

While others may decide in future to pick up the Hempfest torch, this
year's event will be the last to be held in Poplar Dale, a community
of less than 100 people who will be able to "get back to their
peaceful way of life out there in the country," said Waddell.

This year's Aug. 27-30 gathering will be called Hempfest: The End of An Era.

Waddell said the fading away of Hempfest will be a blow to tourism in
the area. While attendance has been down in recent years, the event
has drawn between 1,500 and 2,000 people each year.

He said roughly half of those people come from outside the Sault area.

"There's a large contingent of people who come from southern Ontario,
from the U. S., from Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, there's
people coming from New Brunswick this year. We've had people come
from Japan to this," said Waddell.

Waddell said his efforts now will turn to creating a music festival
which he hopes to turn into "a real good rocking time for four days."