Hempfest: a political rally calling for drug-law reforms
By Russ Zabel

The ostensible focus off Hempfest 1999 in Myrtle Edwards Park last Sunday was promoting industrial uses of the marijuana plant, and there were numerous examples featured in product and food booths at the gathering. The product ranged from clothing made from the plant's fibers to cookies and brownies made from the seeds.

The occasional whiff of the pungent weed as it burned also could be noticed coming from the thousands of people gathered at the waterfront park during the hot, sunny day. But, while there were around a dozen Port of Seattle police on hand, officers from the Seattle Police Department did not make an appearance at all. Seattle police have maintained a large presence at the Hempfest in the past, but the decision not to staff the Hempfest this year was made some time ago, said SPD spokeswoman Carmen Best. "Traditionally, the Hempfest hasn't been a problem," she said, adding that budgetary considerations also were involved in the decision.

Sandwiched between appearances of numerous bands, dozens of speakers also criticized the war on drugs and the mixed results of last year's Initiative 692, which legalized marijuana use for medical purposes in this state.

The most political aspect of the gathering, however, was the inclusion of a petition drive which could put an initiative on the ballot next year that would legalize and tax the sale of marijuana in liquor stores in Washington state.

Hempfest director Vivian McPeak said there are a myriad number of industrial uses for hemp, as the marijuana plant also is called. Industrial hemp can be used as a replacement for almost all petro-chemicals, for hardwoods from old-growth forests, and for cotton, he said of a few examples.

"Industrial hemp does not deplete the soil the way that cotton does, McPeak said, "and it also does not require the ozone-depleting and caustic bleaching processes that wood pulp requires." Industrial hemp grows to be 20 feet high and requires very little water and no pesticides, he added. "It grows like a weed because that's what it is." Seeds from the marijuana plant also have more nutritional value than soybeans, McPeak added.

There are several stores in Seattle that sell clothing made out of hemp, but the cloth has to be imported from China, Tibet, and Russia, he said. "Why should they be enjoying the economic benefits if this stuff is legal to use in the United States?" McPeak asked.

Growing industrial hemp also could help save small farmers, according to McPeak, who said industrial hemp has very little to none of the psychoactive ingredients contained in the marijuana people smoke.

It is illegal to grow industrial hemp in America, he said, because the same legal stigma attached to smokable marijuana is applied to industrial hemp. But McPeak predicts it will only be a couple more years before it is legal to grow industrial hemp in this country.

The legal stigma has been removed to a certain extent from smokable marijuana if it is used for medical purposes in Washington, thanks to the passage of I-692 last year, and McPeak is encouraged by that development.

"I think it's a clear sign that America is ready for a change," he said. "What we're experiencing is a civil war of sorts ... with the citizens of individual states overriding federal law by using the democratic process."

The use of marijuana for medical purposes garnered support from many because of it's humanitarian aspect, but it is unlikely the same level of support would be forthcoming for legalizing recreational use of marijuana, as Initiative 229 would.

The petition drive for I-229 is being sponsored by a retired Microsoft millionaire Bruce McKinney, who has donated $110,000 and pledged another $200,000 to promote the initiative and pay signature gatherers, according to the initiative's organizers.

Titled the Washington Cannabis Tax Act, I-229 would mandate that "the cultivation and use of cannabis (marijuana) be legalized, and (that) cannabis be sold, taxed, and regulated by a cannabis and liquor control commission." Marijuana also would only be sold to those 21 and older and could be used for both medical and non-medical purposes, according to the ballot summary.

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who opposed the medical marijuana initiative, was unavailable for comment, but one of his staff members said he would most likely oppose I-229. Queen Anne resident and State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles supported the medical marijuana initiative, but she replied via e-mail from the East Coast that she could not comment about I-229 because she had not had a chance to study the initiative.

A legislative analyst in the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C., said he had not heard about the initiative yet and could not comment, either.

Paul Stanford, the Oregon-based executive director of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp and organizer of the I-229 petition drive, said a similar petition drive also has been mounted in Oregon.

"We're going to make the ballot, no doubt about it, in both Oregon and Washington," he said. Stanford believes there are broad implications to legalizing the sale of marijuana beyond taxing and regulating the drug.

"It's a major humanitarian issue because what we're doing is we're taking fathers, and in some cases mothers, and throwing them in jail for extraordinarily long periods of time ... and destroying families," he said of those arrested for marijuana offenses.

Kaye Pethe, a Seattle woman active in the I-229 campaign, believes the necessary 180,000 signatures will be gathered because of the cash donated by McKinney.

The Washington state legislature, she said, can pass the initiative as is, come up with their own option and put that and the original I-229 up for a vote, or simply put I-229 up for a vote.

"Marijuana is a major cash crop in Washington," Pethe said, adding that taxing it could provide money for educating people about the effects of drugs. McPeak agrees that taxing marijuana would be a good move. "The sooner the state can start benefiting from the (tax) revenue of controlled sales of marijuana, the better," he said.

Pethe and Stanford both said there are clear parallels between liquor prohibition and the illegality of marijuana. McPeak agreed. "The federal government has painted itself into a corner with 60 years of failed prohibition," he said.

McPeak and others involved in the hemp movement are also buoyed by the promises of I-229. "It's the best shot that we have on having a sane drug policy," is the way Pethe puts it.