Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 8:46 a.m.

Ask someone......
If you had to spend 5 days locked in a room with 5 people,
Would it be 5 drunks and all the booze they could drink?
or
Would it be 5 potheads and all the pot they could smoke?

Catch?......You can't drink or smoke.

Which would it be?

Posted by xenophon at 8/17/08 8:50 a.m.

I attended Hempfest last year and found it quite pleasant, the Seattle Police very polite, and the patrons pretty quiet and relaxed. It was a good event.

My friends and I took a bus from the ferry terminal that was packed with people, most of them elderly, mid-west, corporate looking folks. I thought they were normal Seattle tourists headed for the normal tourist destinations, but to my surprise the bus emptied out at Mertle Edwards Park. Later as we wandered through the event I observed the medical marijuana information kiosks, and there were all the elderly people that had been on the bus! They were finding out about medical marijuana!

It seemed to me that marijuana has finally bridged the "generation gap" now that the children of the 60s are getting up in years. Those elderly folks gathered around the medical marijuana kiosks were kids when marijuana entered the white middle class main stream. maybe they never used marijuana themselves, but unlike the generation that were old in the 60s, they are not ignorant of it, and not afraid of it.

Seems to me the motivations that propel Hempfest are rational. More rational that the government war against marijuana.

Looking back in history Americans are people who have always liked their favorite drugs. Those drug are alcohol first, and marijuana second.

Cannabis throughout history has been a very useful plant. The word "canvas",(as in sails for ships), is derived from it, the Declaration of Independence is written on hemp paper, all the founding fathers of this country cultivated industrial hemp.

We should legalize marijuana because a significant segment of the law abiding population wants it, because it is harmless, and because we need to remove the criminal element from its cultivation and sales, and because it helps people who are chronically, or terminally ill.

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 8:55 a.m.

Kudos to xenophon!
And to that busload of elderly!

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 9:27 a.m.

yeah thats why there are many people who bring thier kids to the event, how is it a harmless festival when people have thier babies strapped to thier backs or chests and small kids around any kind of smoke, let alone pot smoke...the state would take thier kids away if this was in thier home, so how come there is no age requirment to enter the festival? Kids cant enter a beer garden.

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 9:42 a.m.

to answer post #166419....

First, answer the first question posted in this series of comments.

Then realize that pot doesn't have the same detrimental effects that alcohol does.

A reporter for SpeedVision (a channel dedicated to motorsports) performed a test to see the effects of pot on driving. The test subject did BETTER under the "influence" of marijuana than he did "sober".

See the video here:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9d8_1188900563

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 10:22 a.m.

To the above user:

They tested one guy. Driving on a closed track. To generalize this to "all pot smokers can drive safely while high" is a pretty big generalization, without any reasoning. Though you never explicitly stated this, it would appear to be the message you were trying to get across. The guy, at the end of the video, even stated that his test was not scientific or empirical in the slightest.

Don't get me wrong; I want the stuff legalized: I don't use it but it's safer than alcohol. It still obviously has detrimental effects (I've met people who thought it was good for them), but the government should just deal with it like it does alcohol or cigarettes.

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 11:47 a.m.

Maybe they were hippies, but how do you know they were "C**ksu**ers" as you put it unless you attempted to have them please you. I know some men think it is funny to say s**k my c**k but think about what you are asking...what does that make you? We can tell you are homophobic by your statement...got something to hide?

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 12:34 p.m.

I had a great time, it was the best ever! It took awhile to gather up some drummers but when I found them we made the circle. I also actually found friends from past hempfests there too, that's actually amazing considering there's over 150.000 people there...but it happened. Hempfest is not only a political forum for long over due rights, but finding commonality amongst so many different people and sharing the understandablity of life's quite simple pleasures... such as par-taking in the use of marijuana. Lastly, to the commentor who's petty complaint about hippies on the bus...there was/ is a Northgate entrance to the Hempfest anyway so there!

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 12:57 p.m.

I feel like if everyone that b*tches about hempfest just smoked a bowl they wouldn't get so fired up over something so harmless. So to all the haters just shut the h3ll up, poke some smot and chill the fcuk out.. just like everyone else that knows hempfest is legit

Posted by unregistered user at 8/17/08 1:14 p.m.

Hempfest is a great time! There is so much fear and ignorance in the American population when it comes to marijuana that it's difficult to get people to talk about it. I for one am extremely proud to live in a city that doesn't mind turning it's head once a year to allow folks to rally for a cause they believe in.

There is so much more that needs to be done, unfortunately it seems that many waste their energy bickering on pages like this or simply don't get off their tail and try to help. Hempfest brings us all together to show our support, and there's something to be said for that. Plus the giant cloud of smoke at 420 is always fun to see...

Let's get decriminalization on the ballot and kick this in the nugs once and for all...

Posted by unregistered user at 8/18/08 3:12 a.m.

Where do we draw the line when we walk into a doctor's office and get recommendations for largely experimental drugs from big Pharma with tons of side effects and only a tiny amount of testing compared to the thousands of years cannabis has been used? Some of these medications pushed by doctors are addictive, many have caused deaths, some have been pulled, some will only be pulled after more people die.

We will not stand for lies any longer. Big pharma and doctors ARE the drug dealers. **** the FDA who can't even give a nod to garlic and other plants, but magically products coming from the plant world end up with patents and end up being proprietary offerings on shelves with an okay or approval from the FDA.

Where do you draw the line, Darren, with pain medications? A lot of them come from plants, don't they? Does the opium poppy ring a bell?

Cannabis will become legal, but only after the people rise up and work together by passing bill after bill, as the doctors and big Pharma cry and wring their hands over the loss of profits.

The fools who compare cannabis to cocaine are morons, usually with something to lose from cannabis' legalization (money!).

See LEAP(dot)cc Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and MPP(dot)org Marijuana Policy Project.

Cannabis should be legal for both medicinal and recreational use, and it will be with time. Eventually people will be legally growing their own cannabis and as the stress levels go down from its use, and people treat their cancer, aids, and other disease's issues with cannabis, the sales of anti-depressants and pain medications will sink, and doctors and corporations will both have to miss out on that extra sports car or trip to the Bahamas and work for a living instead of shoving **** down our throats.

I despise doctors who don't know what they're talking about when it comes to cannabis, many of these doctors keep their patients in the dark, and their PDRs hidden in their office.

Posted by unregistered user at 8/18/08 10:13 a.m.

I totally agree with #166579. Fear is how the government controls people in all aspects of life; the "Evil Marijuana" or the "Evil Terrorists", etc.

In my 42 years I never witnessed ANYONE using marijuana attack their spouse, start a bar fight or overdose.

It is without a doubt about the $$. The big Pharma companies have tried to patent pot....Marinol for example, but they have not studied it enough to understand it?? It has been used for thousands of years and only recent history has it been illegal. Why? I believe it all started because the cotton, paper & oil industries got scared because Hemp can help solve many of our current problems. Hemp grows so much faster than trees and is much stronger. How about Hemp oil. Our founding fathers grew hemp and even authored the Constitution on hemp paper.

We the people need to get our heads out of the sand and learn the truth! Then we must force these backward thinkers out of office.

Posted by unregistered user at 8/18/08 2:02 p.m.

legalization doesn't mean a free for all. and just like the booze, moderation is key. some of us need cannabis to function daily.

to the smoke and kids guy up top; while i did not attend this year, i can assure you if i saw someone blowing smoke in a kids face i'd be the first to put a boot to their head.

Posted by Not My President at 8/18/08 8:59 p.m.

You can see some fascinating photos and videos at Silenced Majority Portal - it was amazing!

Posted by unregistered user at 8/19/08 1:38 p.m.

for all the people concerned about kids at hempfest or teens smoking pot there, the answer is to legalize and regulate it. then maybe hempfest and the police could better regulate people underage buying pipes or smoking pot.

Posted by jctsuave at 8/19/08 3:33 p.m.

We need to pass a law outlawing people from bringing their children to his even. How many kids have to die every year before someon does something? Oh wait no child has dies at hempfest and no one has ever overdosed on pot, shoot I guess these parents might just be able to take their kids out in a park in the middle of the day in Seattle regardless of what people are smoking outside and no one is hurt and everyone has a good time.