MOSCOW'S HEMP FEST IS SATURDAY AT EAST CITY PARK

Make no mistake about it, the Moscow Hemp Fest still is very much
about food, music, buying cool stuff and having fun.

But the event, which will celebrate its 14th year Saturday at East
City Park, now is becoming more political as well.

"We've put the activist aspect back into it, and I'm happy about
that," said Arlene Falcon, a Moscow business owner who has organized
Moscow Hemp Fest since 2006.

For years, the educational and political focus of the Moscow festival
and other hemp festivals has been on industrial hemp. However, as
states continue to legalize the use of medical marijuana - 14 so far
- - that topic now is becoming a major part of the educational
component of the festivals.

"Hemp and medical marijuana are completely different issues, and
they're both illegal in this state," Falcon said Monday in an
interview at her clothing and gift shop, Tye-Dye Everything.

Idaho Rep. Tom Trail, who has spent many years fighting for the
legalization and use of industrial hemp, now is preparing to
introduce a bill in the Idaho Legislature that would legalize the use
of marijuana for patients with chronic diseases such as Lou Gehrig's
disease, muscular dystrophy, AIDS, cancer and glaucoma.

Trail, a Republican from Moscow, is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m.
Saturday at Hemp Fest.

"Tom Trail has been an advocate of industrial hemp for a long time,"
Falcon said. "He hasn't gotten a lot of support for it over the years."

She said when Trail attended previous festivals to speak about his
efforts in regard to industrial hemp, he heard other speakers talking
about medical marijuana.

"It opened his ears to what was happening with medical marijuana,"
Falcon said.

The proposed medical marijuana legislation would be the most
restrictive in the country, according to a statement released by
Trail's office.

The bill is modeled on New Jersey's medical marijuana law, which was
signed on January 18, by then-Gov. Jon Corzine, making New Jersey the
14th state to allow the medicinal use of marijuana.

In California, New Mexico, Maine, Colorado, New Jersey and Rhode
Island, patients obtain medical marijuana through state-run
dispensaries. Eight other states, Washington, Oregon, Montana,
Nevada, Michigan, Alaska, Vermont and Hawaii, have decriminalized
medical marijuana.

According to the statement from Trail's office, under the proposed
law, medical marijuana patients would not be allowed to grow their
own marijuana or to smoke it in public. Patients would be limited to
two ounces per month, which would be obtained from state-monitored
dispensaries.

Trail said he was approached by several constituents who suffered
from chronic health conditions, and he has spoken to a number of
physicians who support such legislation.

"It's limiting, but it addresses the issue of medical marijuana,"
Falcon said.

Trail intends to have a series of town meetings on the topic over the
summer and introduce the bill in the next legislative session.

Other scheduled speakers at Saturday's event include emcee Steve
Phun, a Seattle Hemp Fest activist, Adam Assenberg, a local activist
and radio host of KRFP's "Marijuana, Fact or Fiction" radio program,
as well as several members of the newly formed Southern Idaho
Cannabis Coalition based in Boise.

The musical guests this year include the John Treasure Band, Corn
Mash, Grateful Live, Groove Patrol and the Simon Tucker Band.

At dark, the festival will close with a performance by Bio-Luminesce,
a fire-dancing and drumming troupe from Sandpoint.

The festival will have 30-40 vendors from all over the region with
many hemp-related items such as clothing, as well as jewelry, art,
food and other items for sale.

This year's celebration will include an art installation made of more
than 900 discarded Bic lighters that were found in the region over
the past three years.

For information, call Falcon at (208) 301-2289.

If you go

WHAT: 14th Annual Hemp Fest

WHEN: 10 a.m.-dark, Saturday

WHERE: East City Park, Moscow

COST: Free