Huffing for Freedom

HEMPFEST 2004 STRAINS TO BUST OUT OF THE GANJA GHETTO

Before heading down to my first Hempfest (historically, my cannabis
consumption has been tied to the comforts of home--sofas, pajama bottoms,
cable TV), I spent some time exploring Hempfest's website.

The site represents the full spectrum of pot-and-law concerns, from
agricultural hemp facts and drug-reform updates to inspirational
testimonies from productive pot smokers, gathering the disparate strands of
the various hemp-related movements into what feels like a social whole. "We
know the truth behind the war against us," reads the website's State of the
Union address. "We see through the veil of lies and disinformation, the
racism and cultural war that the right wing is waging against our peaceful
culture.

And we are fighting back, legally and responsibly, to make this country
more free for those who threaten no one."

Fired up by the website's intelligent advocacy, I head to Myrtle Edwards
Park, home to Hempfest for the past three years.

Passing through the gates, I hear an amplified voice from a nearby stage
reiterate one of Hempfest's major battle cries: "It's time to come out of
the cannabis closet!" The appropriation of gay-rights lingo is fitting, as
the rights sought by pot smokers and homosexuals are essentially the same:
the freedom to conduct our private, adult business behind closed doors.

As with the gay movement 20 years ago, the next wave of progress for pot
acceptance is contingent on "regular" folk joining the
fight--non-dreadlocked doctors and lawyers and writers admitting their pot
use without shame and demanding the right to indulge without fear of arrest.

Just as the gay movement strived to show the world that homosexuals are
more than drunken drag queens and predatory swishes with poodles, Hempfest
is hoping to replace the image of the lazy, deep-fried bonghead with that
of sane, productive citizens who just happen to smoke pot. It's a smart move.

Unfortunately, as with the gay movement, the flagship event designed to
unite the scattered masses seems inherently insufficient. Just as the
annual gay parade traffics in the most hackneyed elements of gay life
("pride," sexual liberation), Hempfest offers a funhouse of pothead
cliches, from hemp dream catchers and smoke-friendly "glass art" to
marijuana-leaf leis and headline acts with pot puns in their names.

Fittingly, the overwhelming majority of the Hempfest hordes fit the Mad
magazine profile of a pothead to a T. Sure, there are some aberrations from
the barefoot-and-tie-dyed norm--sweet septuagenarians, adventurous
urbanites, an impressive-for-Seattle racial mingling, and enough strollers
to notice.

But for the most part, the crowd seems drawn from the great, unwashed mass
to be found wherever acid is dropped and hacky sacks kicked until the next
Phish steps up to the plate.

As it is, Hempfest isn't without charm or fun or purpose--but it
effectively neglects the audience its strategy demands it to court.

To draw casual pot smokers "out of the cannabis closet," Hempfest needs to
isolate its two goals, which for the past 13 years have been awkwardly
compressed into a single event--an outdoor festival that strives to be both
a political rally and a communal party for Washington potheads.
Unfortunately, as it is, neither goal is accomplished. Hempfest's political
aims--such as last year's highly successful I-75, which made possession of
marijuana for personal use the lowest priority for Seattle law
enforcement--deserve a sharper audience than a throng of blissfully stoned
citizens, and the last thing a bunch of pleasure-seeking potheads want to
hear is someone screeching through a microphone about freedom, or anything.

The division, essentially, is between goals best accomplished while sober
(political strategizing, community outreach) and those contingent on being
super high (the humongous stoner blowout Seattle potheads deserve). This
final goal in particular needs fresh conception: As the stoner testimonials
on Hempfest's website make clear, the majority of casual pot users smoke to
enhance their enjoyment of life--so why restrict Hempfest's entertainment
to groove bands, sensitive folkies, and hiphop crews?

Why not find a gallery to book a stoner-friendly art show, or a cinema to
run a Hempfest film fest? Only by reaching beyond the obvious will the
pro-pot movement reach the closet cases it needs to succeed.