HEMPFEST MIGHT STILL RISE FROM ASHES

Ohio State's attempts to force the 17th annual Ohio Hempfest to go up in
smoke are being met with resistance by organizers of the event.

According to a local media report, Ohio State's director of Judicial
Affairs Pat Hall informed Hempfest organizers Tuesday the event was
cancelled. Hall said the cancellation was because event sponsor Students
for Sensible Drug Policy failed to give the university 10 days notice of
the event and did not get written permission from their faculty sponsor to
hold the festival.

In response to the cancellation, the organizers struck back, seeking an
injunction in federal circuit court to overturn the university's decision
and hold the event as planned.

"We feel it's more of a free speech issue than the technicality," SSDP
president and undeclared freshman Mark Verhoff said.

Organizers of the event, primarily sponsored by SSDP, said planning for the
event began in October and was scheduled for the South Oval by Jan. 5.
Verhoff said the group called the university within 10 normal days, not
business days, of the event. SSDP was required to contact the university 10
business days before the event because of sanctions placed on the group by
Hall, but Verhoff said the event was scheduled before the university
imposed the sanctions.

"We don't think it's a legitimate claim that they didn't know about the
Hempfest," said Sean Luse, OSU graduate and Hempfest organizer.

Sarah Clark, another Hempfest organizer and OSU graduate, said she believes
the decision was motivated by police Chief John Petry's dislike for what
Hempfest supports.

"My personal opinion is that the OSU police chief has a vendetta against
activism - especially activism concerning cannibus - and I think in some
close-door meetings he convinced the university to cancel the event instead
of working with us," she said.

Petry, in a local media report, said he was hesitant to give permission for
the event because of drug abuse at past Hempfests and because the
organizers seemed to encourage it.

However, Clark disputes that claim and said any problems that have occurred
during that weekend haven't been explicitly linked to the event.

"I think that's an unsubstantiated lie," she said. "Our crowds are upwards
of 10,000 people, and the worst activity that I've ever heard of are
citations to less than a handful of people. There's never been any
violence; there's never been any mass arrests at Hempfest."

Attempts have been made to discuss the event's cancellation with OSU's
administration, but Verhoff said there was no significant response.

"We just want to work with OSU to come to an agreement in the best
interests of everyone, yet they don't seem willing to work with us," Clark
said.

Regardless of whether the injunction to block the university's decision
succeeds, organizers still plan to meet on the South Oval at noon.

"There isn't a contingency plan other than to have a rally on the Oval for
our First Amendment rights," Clark said.

If Hempfest does not occur as it was originally planned, efforts will be
made to responsibly deal with people who come down and discover the event's
cancellation.

"We're making sure that the crowd does show up and is managed in an orderly
fashion," Verhoff said.

The court hearing for the filed injunction will be held at 8 a.m. today in
the Sixth Circuit Court.

Hall was out of the office Thursday and unavailable for comment. Petry did
not return phone calls.