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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Down By the Bay

posted by on August 21 at 10:59 AM

For a $5 donation at the entrance to Hempfest, you got a green plastic necklace and a 32-page program with lots of words in it. Because of the way it was stapled, the program fell open to a two-page spread by Rick Steves, headlined “Why I Believe Marijuana Should Be Legal” and accompanied by a photo of Steves in a field in the Netherlands with some hilarious-looking cows.

Steves is Marco Polo, basically. His career: taking trips and reporting back on them in travel guidebooks and on his PBS series. One of his favorite things to report back about European exoticism is that lighting a joint there is equivalent to opening a beer. This was the first thing he said when he took the stage on Sunday, and it was the first point in his essay in the program, which went on: “Last year 800,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges—an 800% increase since 1980… While our nation is in a serious financial crisis, it spends literally billions of dollars annually chasing down responsible adults who are good, tax-paying citizens in all regards except for the occasional use of marijuana.”

Along with his essay—nothing you would call Literature, but certainly persuasive—was a chart with pot-related criminal offenses and their corresponding fines and jail times. (Possession of more than 40 grams? $10,000 fine and fives years in jail. Second offense? $20,000 fine and 10 years in jail.) There weren’t any other interesting articles in the program, glossy and colorful as it was, so for fun (and hoping to find something to write my column about) I started scanning it for typos. Fewer than you’d expect for a booklet by stoners.

Some friends interrupted to say that we needed to be at the far stage immediately. At this certain stage at 4:20 pm, thousands of joints were to be thrown onto the crowd. The idea of free joints raining down on us seemed far-fetched, but we got there, the clock struck 4:20 pm, and thousands of free joints rained down on us. I don’t exactly know how this happened, but it happened, and by 4:21 pm the entire field was smoking. It looked beautiful. Like mist. Here’s a microscopic photo my cell phone took (was on the wrong setting):

420.jpg

A big tanker inched by in the bay. I was going to take notes, but I couldn’t think of what to jot down. Sometimes language doesn’t cut it.

RSS icon Comments

1

The Drug War is going as well as the Iraq War.

both are a waste of money, resources, and people.

Posted by Will in Seattle | August 21, 2007 11:24 AM
2

The Rick Steves link is broken.

Posted by link! | August 21, 2007 11:27 AM
3

I've been reading about Hempfest all week, and I remember reading about it last year, and I'm wondering something (and maybe I passed over this) - how is it legal? Or rather, how do they manage to pull it off?

I don't live in Seattle, I've actually never been to Seattle. But the fact that this event can be held without getting hell from the police...that's a beautiful thing.

Posted by Joey the Girl | August 21, 2007 11:34 AM
4

On Saturday I witnessed a 15-year-old chug his dirty bongwater. There were a bunch of Juggalos roaming around, too. Someone was selling goat curry, then it started to rain. I left.

Posted by Paulus | August 21, 2007 11:34 AM
5

On April 20th (4/20) every year there is a pro-pot protest in front of the Winnipeg Legislature. Everyone spends all day in front of the building smoking weed. I've always wondered how these kinds of things were pulled off as well. Bless them.

Posted by JessB | August 21, 2007 11:44 AM
6

Hempfest this year was fun!

Adults can get away with smoking pot there because of 2 things. 1) I-75 which almost decriminilizes up to about an ounce and a half (40 grams) and 2) also if cops gave tickets or arrested for smoking, they'd have to arrest or ticket just about EVERYONE. The cops there were pretty kewl and turned many a blind eye. They were looking for kids smoking, sellers of the pot, drunks and rowdy people mostly.

Seattle is GRrrreat!

Posted by j in sea | August 21, 2007 12:18 PM
7

I've never been to Seattle, but this is high (no pun intended) on the list of why I want to move. It rains joints only in my dreams.

Now, if someone could do something about that cost of living, maybe I'll actually make it happen...

Posted by Mike in MO | August 21, 2007 12:23 PM
8

There weren’t any other interesting articles in the program, glossy and colorful as it was, so for fun (and hoping to find something to write my column about) I started scanning it for typos. Fewer than you’d expect for a booklet by stoners.

Like no one has ever said this about The Stranger.

Posted by thehim | August 21, 2007 12:43 PM
9

There weren’t any other interesting articles in the program, glossy and colorful as it was, so for fun (and hoping to find something to write my column about) I started scanning it for typos. Fewer than you’d expect for a booklet by stoners.

Like no one has ever said this about The Stranger.

Posted by thehim | August 21, 2007 1:11 PM
10

Mike in MO @ 7,

It's true, Seattle is somewhat pricey. May I suggest you look into Bellingham, Washington, if you'd like to move?

It's an awesome, laid back college town near the Canadian border. It's about two hours north of Seattle and 45 minutes south of Vancouver (Vansterdam) B.C.

The natural beauty there is stunning and there's a great mix of people due to the presence of Western Washington University. Plus, the cost of living is about half what it is in Seattle.

It reminds me a lot of Columbia, MO, or Fayetteville, AR, but without the scary religious people - yay!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingham_Washington

P.S. Olympia, Washington, also rocks, and it's just a hop, skip and a jump away from Seattle.

Posted by Original Andrew | August 21, 2007 1:59 PM
11

Missed Hempfest this weekend because I pedaled my bike up to Vancouver instead.

Talk about a cool city! Check out the vapor lounge tucked away in the back of the head shop next to the New Amsterdam Cafe. It was like hanging in a post-college stoner apartment, only there were vaporizers everywhere, and there was the hottest, grooviest, stoniest chick you've ever seen bringing you drinks, cleaning up after you, and demonstrating how to use the paraphernalia. And it's open all year around.

Posted by Sean | August 21, 2007 2:10 PM
12

I agree with Original Andrew. Bellingham is like a condensed Seattle, with a lot more hippies and weed. Plus, it's the gateway between Vancouver and Seattle in which all weed flows. Never had a hard time finding any.

Posted by UNPAID BLOGGER | August 21, 2007 3:25 PM
13

It looks like the post doesn't include a link to the whole article, so here it is: http://www.ricksteves.com/about/pressroom/activism/marijuana.htm

Posted by VaNatalie | August 21, 2007 8:04 PM
14

Most of the appeal for me to smoke pot as a teenager was the fact that it was illegal.

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