MARIJUANA BACKERS PACK PARK IN SEATTLE

An estimated 80,000 people packed Myrtle Edwards Park along the city's
waterfront yesterday for the first day of Hempfest, a weekend festival
aimed at changing the nation's laws to allow decriminalization or
legalization of marijuana.

Hempfest is billed as the largest such event in the world.

Seattle police were out in force and reported no major problems.

"This stuff never hurt nobody," said Bud Mack, 54, a Vietnam veteran who
attended Hempfest with his daughter, Rainbow.

Thomas Pudmaroff, a floor-covering specialist from Federal Way, has
attended all 11 Hempfests held at the park. He now volunteers.

Pudmaroff smokes marijuana every day to help alleviate pain from severe
migraines he's been suffering for 17 years - and he wants the drug to be legal.

Ted DeBray, 35, came from Port Angeles to show his support for marijuana use.

"I think it should be legal," he said. "I'm 35 and haven't smoked since I
was 17, but a lot of my friends do. I'm a criminal-defense lawyer and I see
firsthand that the war on drugs is a complete failure."

To outside observers, Hempfest appears to be a just a big party with loud
music, food, and booths selling pipes, trinkets and tie-dyed clothing.
There was no shortage of joints, pipes or puffy clouds of pot.

Hempfest director Dominic Holden likes to call it a "protestival."

"Art and politics have always come together well historically in American
civil-rights movements," Holden said. "Our strong message is that the drug
war has failed and we have viable alternatives."