TACOMA HEMPFEST 2010

The Dawning of a New Era?

Somebody in Tacoma has a huge sack. Cajones, I mean. Moxie. Hempfest
in Tacoma. We've had festivals celebrating queer pride. We've had
marches against war. We've had parties featuring full on nudity and
celebration of sexual freedom. Now Hempfest.

Tacoma is being dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming.
Or maybe not. We'll see.

It depends on whether local stoners can behave on Saturday, June 26,
when Wright Park will be filled with the sweet smell of - old ladies
with glaucoma, multiple sclerosis patients, people in chronic pain,
AIDS patients, people with Crohn's disease, cancer patients,
epileptics, people with Hepatitis, doctors, lawyers, police officers,
judges, priests, athletes, poets, musicians, accountants, doctors,
holy men, holy women, business owners, editors, stock brokers, real
estate agents - and so on. And so on. And maybe some food.

Stop right now. If you thought I was going to write " ... the sweet
smell of delicious, delicately trimmed ganja," you're a stoner.

If you thought I was going to write "the sweet smell of marijuana,"
felt some sort of indignation, and imagined a bunch of long-haired
hippies and rappers, you've just fallen victim to a common assumption
- - that marijuana is all about getting high and being a do-nothing
douche bag. Stop right now. Read the preceding paragraph again. That
is closer to reality.

"This isn't some little niche of the population that law enforcement
gets to thump on," says Hempfest organizer Justin Prince. "This is everybody."

Well, not everybody. But it's a lot of people. The U.S. government's
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive's National Surveys on
Drug Use and Health from 2001 to 2007 indicate that 95 million
Americans have tried weed at least once. More than 50 percent of
people aged 18-25 and 35-49 have tried it and nearly half of those
aged 26-34. Think of it this way: If you see someone under the age of
50, flip a coin. Heads, they've smoked weed. Tails, they haven't. The
statistics for regular users is still staggering. More than 22
million American adults have probably used marijuana this year. And
an estimated 8.1 million have likely smoked or eaten some today.
Remember these statistics are based on answers given by people who
were willing to admit they smoke pot to a random government employee.
They're probably higher.

Not the government employee. The numbers.

There will be people in attendance who smoke, eat, vaporize, and
otherwise ingest cannabis at Hempfest. If they know what's good for
'em, they won't be smoking at Wright Park. Sorry folks. It's still illegal.

But that's not the only reason that local stoners on their way to
Hempfest might want to avoid puffing. The real reason to avoid
smoking up at Hempfest is simple: Organizers and people who have put
a lot of time and energy into opening this forum in Tacoma have
higher aspirations. No pun intended. It's about battling the stoner
stereotype, says organizer Prince. It's about showing Tacoma that all
sorts of real people have a real medical need that is served by marijuana.

It's about showing Tacoma that stoners have better taste in music.
Not really. Well, really. But that's not the point of Hempfest.

"I want people to walk away with an increased awareness that cannabis
is more than the stoner image," says Prince. "People have this
misconception that people are using this (medical marijuana) to sit
around in a room and get stoned. If you actually see the variety of
people that use this, you'll see that it's just people who don't want
to be stuck all day. People who'd like to be able to hang out with
their family rather than lying on the couch strung out on opiates
because their doctor can't be more creative."

It's also about the current, mad, Hail Mary drive to get enough
signatures to put I-1068 on the November ballot. If you haven't
heard, I-1068, presented by Sensible Washington, would "remove state
civil and criminal penalties for persons eighteen years or older who
cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use marijuana. Marijuana
would no longer be defined as a 'controlled substance.' Civil and
criminal penalties relating to drug paraphernalia and provisions
authorizing seizure or forfeiture of property would not apply to
marijuana-related offenses committed by persons eighteen years or
older. The measure would retain current restrictions and penalties
applicable to persons under eighteen."

That's from the initiative description. I think that means it would
make pot legal.

Sensible Washington has faced an uphill battle as it has worked to
gather enough signatures to put the initiative to a vote. Based on
past polls of Washington voters, the measure would have a chance of
passing. A Washington poll, conducted from May 3 to May 23, indicated
that 52 percent of registered voters approve of removing both civil
and criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
Thirty-five percent said they were opposed to the idea. But local
politicos - even the liberal ones - have neglected to support the
ballot initiative. Sensible Washington officials have said they've
received word that political leaders feel marijuana law reform is a
fringe issue and people are nervous about being associated with the effort.

"It's 2010 and we're still facing the old-fashioned, out-dated stigma
around marijuana," says Sensible Washington campaign director and
initiative co-author Philip Dawdy in a recent press release. "Voters
are five to ten years ahead of the Legislature and the powers-that-be
on marijuana law reform."

The I-1068 campaign has other obstacles as well. Banks have refused
to process online donations. The ACLU of Washington announced its
non-support for the initiative. And then there's the recent crumbling
of a budding partnership with Service Employees International Union,
which had been flirting with the Sensible Washington folks and toying
with the idea of supporting I-1068, but pulled out early because they
had a lot of questions - questions like "won't we get better PR by
walking away?" The I-1068 campaign also has struggled to get people
with signed petitions to turn them in. The I-1068 campaign currently
has more than 20,000 petitions - enough for 400,000-plus signatures -
in circulation. Most haven't come back

"We're really looking forward to the public getting signed petitions
into us sooner rather than later," said Dawdy. "Hanging onto them
until the end of June could create a logistical logjam."

Translation: Turn in your signed petitions or face the cosmic irony
of helping kill the legalization movement because you couldn't get
off your ass.

The campaign has until June 30 to collect 241,153 valid signatures
and turn them in to the secretary of state's office.

"As soon as I found out about the I-1068 campaign, I decided now
would be a good time to do it (Tacoma Hempfest)," says Prince.

A note to those who are looking forward to something similar to
festivals in Seattle or Olympia: Expect a different scene. There will
be plenty of music. Big Wheel Stunt Show, SweetKiss Momma, Legend of
Bigfoot, Q-Dot, Vile Red Falcons, Mr. D.O.G., Voxxy Vallejo, Fun
Police, Deborah Page and State of Murdoch are all lined up. There
will be balloon animals, face painting, magicians, speakers from
NORML and LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), and nearly 30
vendors. Three words. Yelm Worm Farm. Hempfest also encourages
everyone to bring dry and/or canned goods for a food drive that will
benefit local food banks. All funds raised, minus expenses says
Prince, will be donated to a family of local charities.

Folks who show up may note a conspicuous absence of other medical
marijuana joints. They weren't invited, says Prince, explaining "I
didn't want to deal with other clubs' drama." Tacoma Cross owners are
on their way to Seattle Hempfest, which is freaking huge. Despite
what could be perceived as a snub, Augustine from Tacoma Cross offers
best wishes to the people organizing the festival.

"I hope it helps the movement," he says. "I believe in what they're
doing. I'll wait and see what happens."

He also expressed concerns that legalizing it for everybody wouldn't
happen this year.

"I'm afraid we're not going to do it this year," he says, adding that
perfecting a system focused on medical users of marijuana still needs
a lot of work and deserves focus. "We need to figure out how to do
this medical thing right."

Augustine agrees that the focus of Tacoma's first Hempfest should be
on medical marijuana patients.

"We have to get rid of this stigma. There are people out there with
legitimate issues and concerns," says Augustine. "It's always the
people who aren't sick that say we all just want to get high. That's
the furthest thing from the truth. If there's one thing I've learned,
it's that everything about this is completely different than I thought."

[Sidebar]

HEMP IN 13 LANGUAGES

Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew it. Americans were
legally bound to grow it during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.
The federal government subsidized its cultivation during World War
II, and U.S. farmers grew about a million acres of it as part of that program.

Today, the United States is the only industrialized nation in the
world that does not recognize its immense value as a crop or
industrial material. We don't permit its production. We call it
"hemp." So do the British. And Australians. But it sounds more like
"yemp." Other countries have different words.

The Chinese word for hemp is "ma." The Finnish call it "hamppu." The
French call it "chanvre." The Germans say "hanf." The Hungarian word
for hemp is "kinder." The Japanese say "asa." The Dutch call it
"hennep." The Yugoslavian word for hemp is "konoplja." The Romanian
word for hemp is "cinepa." The Russian word is "konoplya." The
Spanish say "canamo." The Turkish word for hemp is "kendir."

Go impress your friends. Tell them you smoke "konoplja."

Tacoma Hempfest

Saturday, June 26, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., free

Wright Park, 316 S. G St., Tacoma

Tacomahempfest.com