In an article this week, I lay out a grand, grand vision to decriminalize pot in Washington. Actually it's quite simple. A bill to decriminalize marijuana died in the legislature, the discussion about pot laws stalled on the late-night airwaves, and messages about pot decrim are stuck in countercultural irrelevance. The solution, I write, is “to demand attention in an urgent policy proposal that can't be ignored—an initiative.” But I pissed off some folks when I said advocacy was wallowing in the patchouli-stained ghetto of Hempfest. (That image on the right by Flickr user pdgibson was taken at Hempfest in 2007). Now—even though I write about pot legalization all the time and I’ve written at length on the event's importance like this and this and this negative comment was a mere clause—I'm now the enemy. A few comments, which are not unlike a few emails I've received:

I will do everything I can to make sure you are never invited back to speak at Hempfest. There is no longer room for your self importance, your negativity or your elitism at Hempfest.

Tell you what, stay out o’ the ghetto this year bud. The ghetto has moved on.

Are you blaming yourself as an ineffective speaker in that ghetto? If you want to nudge people into action (which isn't the role of organizers of Hempfest: they provide the forum, you -as a speaker- provide the action), it probably doesn't help to call them all patchouli-stained hippies.

It isn't the role of protest organizers to nudge people to action... please take note. Yes, I am an annual speaker at Hempfest—at least, I hope I still am—and, yes, I was a director for many years. (But I left because it was a constant fight with hippies who wanted the event to be as much about celebrating hippie culture as reforming policy. Never mind that the two objectives undermine one another's credibility.)

The problem with Hempfest isn’t that hippies are advocating for legal pot. It’s that other people—filthy hipsters, fastidious soccer moms, obsessive-compulsive janitors—aren’t advocating to legalize pot. This reinforces the stigma that Hempfest is all about hippies perpetuating other hippies' indulgences, not about social justice and sensible use of resources. But politics is all about appearing to represent widespread support. Because hippies run Hempfest, the onus is on them to shed the event's cultural luggage to get everyone else to the event.

Hempfest organizers practically instruct folks to perpetuate that hippie stereotype. They drape the event in prayer flags, tie dyes and other cliché cultural embellishments that deter people who don’t associate with those things. This massive tie dye is actually the backdrop on one of the stages:

I respect the Hempfest hippies. They are some of the most grounded, hardworking volunteers I know. But sometimes folks need to hear what they need to hear. So, Hempfest... don't want folks to think of your event as a patchouli-stained ghetto? Lose the tie dyes, prayer flags, and other hippie baggage.

Read about how Washington can decriminalize pot in the next 19 months over here.