POLITICAL AROMA DETECTED AT HEMPFEST: I-75 SUPPORTERS FIND BACKING

The political undercurrent at the annual Hempfest in Myrtle Edwards Park
had the sweet odor of momentum this year.

Seattle residents will vote next month on Initiative 75, which would make
busting adults for using marijuana the lowest priority for the city's
police officers.

The initiative is exactly the kind of thing Hempfest organizers support.
The festival offers a good time - music, vendors and the occasional whiff
of marijuana - but at its core, it's a political event.

"It's become a flagship event for drug-policy reform," said festival
director Dominic Holden.

Holden says he doesn't smoke pot. But he doesn't want his tax dollars
paying to jail otherwise law-abiding citizens who enjoy a joint after work,
he said.

The Seattle City Council voted in October to place I-75 on the Sept. 16 ballot.

Two City Council members - Nick Licata and Judy Nicastro - have said they
support the measure. Other city officials have said they don't think the
initiative is necessary because the city rarely prosecutes adults for
possession of small amounts of marijuana.

While yesterday's sunshine drew throngs of revelers to the Seattle
waterfront to check out the milelong spectacle of stages and tents, many in
the crowd were more into the scene than the activism behind it.

"We came to have fun," said Mike Crowley, 21, of Bremerton. Sure, the
government should legalize marijuana, he said, shrugging, but "it's more
about the gathering."

His friend Donna Burt, draped in a fabric marijuana-leaf lei, said the
festival would be better if they would let dogs in, like last year.

"We mostly came for the shopping and the people and the music," said one
Tacoma woman, who said she didn't want to risk her reputation by having her
name published.

Holden predicted this year's crowd would break last year's record of about
175,000 people.

The group at yesterday's free festival included middle-aged couples,
families, tattooed teenagers and plenty of dreadlocked travelers loading in
and out of Volkswagen buses.

A small group of Christian protesters carried signs through the crowd
urging festival attendees to repent. A few police officers strolled through
the crowds without incident.

Under a hemp-fabric tent, belly-dancers performed and, later, a panel of
political organizers spoke to a small group gathered on rugs and blankets.

"Who are the politicians to vote for?" Buddy Myers, of Seattle, asked the
panelists. "Is there like a list of politicians who are friendly to pot
smokers?"

The panelists, who were not from Washington state, punted on that question,
referring Myers to local advocates.

There's no question supporters of loosening marijuana laws are a growing
political force, Holden said. Few causes could draw such a large and
diverse crowd, he said.

Surveying attendees from the I-75 booth, where he was collecting names of
volunteers, campaign volunteer Nicholas Hart said "a lot of them just look
like kids that like to get high."

But another faction of the crowd at the annual festival is more politically
charged, he said. And he said having the initiative on the ballot is exciting.

"It just kind of feels like a lot of hard work finally paid off."