The Seattlest Stoner: Why I Don't Go to Hempfest

The Seattlest Stoner is a guest columnist who wishes to remain anonymous because, well, marijuana is still technically illegal.

Seattlest readers, I have a confession.

I am a young professional. I am a marijuana smoker. And I refuse to go to Hempfest.

I have smoked pot, pretty consistently, for nearly a decade. And I am not afraid, nor am I ashamed, to say that I do not use it as medication - I use it recreationally. I use it to get high. Because after a long day of being a professional, respectable, voting, KUOW-donating, educated, bill-and-tax-paying member of society, I like to sit on my couch before bed and get high. I do not attend Hempfest, because I think that it is detrimental to the movement toward legalization.

Seattle Hempfest 07 by Paul David Gibson from the Seattlest Flickr pool.

The same way that others drink several glasses of wine? I smoke a joint. I cannot stress enough that it is equivocal - it's simply that alcohol hasn't been marketed as the drug that it is. The distinction between alcohol and drugs is, I believe, a large reason why marijuana is seen as bad, addictive, a gateway drug, whatever else uneducated people think it to be, whereas alcohol, which was prohibited to little success for so many years, is something else. Something that is not a drug.

The fact is that marijuana doesn't make people violent. It doesn't make them crazy. It doesn't, as so many people who have never tried it but are quick to cast stones claim, make people stupid. Did I smoke throughout college? Yes. Did I graduate early with honors? Yes. Did I work the entire time to pay as much as I could so that I wouldn't have to take out loans? Yes. Did knowing that, in the privacy of my home, I would be able to enjoy a smoke at the end of my 16-, 17-, 18-hour day help me? Yes.

This is, I think, what a healthy relationship with recreational marijuana looks like: it is invisible. Which brings me back to why I don't go to Hempfest.

I think it's great that so many (and believe me, we are many strong) community members who use cannabis. I think it's great that professionals you'd never guess use it. I think it's great that, privately, safely, there are options for obtaining marijuana. What I think is a shame is that many of us, who would rather purchase local, sustainable marijuana by the light of day from dispensaries, rather than in alleys by actual drug dealers who are both dangerous and unreliable, have to use government loopholes to do it.

Proceed with Caution by d.c. roake from the Seattlest Flickr pool.

Don't get me wrong - I know that marijuana is a fantastic medical alternative for a lot of people. It can do many, many things when other medications simply can't. I know that it is a powerful treatment option for those with diseases that make eating nearly an impossibility. I know that it can help with an impressive array of mental health issues. But there are many, many people who don't use it for that. And that's not a bad thing.

That people like myself, who are not in pain, have to pretend to use marijuana "medicinally" for it to receive even a modicum of protection and legality is ridiculous. And to combine the recreational use and the medical use as Hempfest does, I believe, is to send the wrong message to the masses, who only see stoners, hippies, and those looking for an excuse to get high.

Hempfest's heart is in the right place - it brings marijuana use out of dark living rooms and into a beautiful setting by the water. But Hempfest in and of itself sends conflicting signals. Who are the recreational marijuana users of King County? Are we responsible, buttoned-down, 9-to-5-ers who enjoy a bowl at the end of the day? Or are we tie-dyed wearing, patchouli-reeking, damn-the-man burnouts, with little intention of contributing to society?

The fact is that we are both. We are everyone, really. We are moms and dads, lawyers and politicians, religious leaders, parking patrol officers, garbage truck drivers, postal employees, doctors, dock workers - and we, like everyone else who enjoys something intoxicating, are mostly responsible. Are there some burnouts? Yes. Does Hempfest bring them out, and make them look like the majority? Yes. But that is not a positive movement for the marijuana-using community. Hempfest is supposed to be about activism and openness - but to many attendants, it's just an excuse to get high outside and feel that, for one minute, their choices aren't condemned. But that doesn't change anything, and, in fact, makes things worse.

I personally know police officers, who are in favor of legalization, because, aside from the fact that their drug (like alcohol is a drug) of choice is illegal, the majority of marijuana smokers are not criminals. They aren't also thieves, or tax-dodgers. Some are even republicans, if you can believe it. I know marijuana users who voted for John McCain. John McCain!

In fact, the camp of those who are pro legalization (in total, not just under the umbrella of "medicine") is growing. McGinn spoke at Hempfest, though the coverage of his speech was overpowered by sensationalism about the ease of a attaining a medical card and pictures of hippies. Nearly all of Seattle's City Councilmembers back legalization and taxation as a method of increasing revenue for the City. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes also sees marijuana as being akin to alcohol. Because it is. Now, it's mostly a matter of public perspective. Which is where Hempfest's representation comes in.

Please, Seattle residents. Don't let Hempfest be the yardstick why which you measure the use of marijuana in this city. Don't believe the people who tell you that marijuana is a gateway drug, or that it makes people stupid, or that it is only for losers. There are so many professional, respectable marijuana users sitting next to you on the bus, or standing behind you in line a Starbucks, or performing a service for you - and you wouldn't know it.

And please, Hempfest attendees: you are representing the majority's opinion of what it looks like to smoke marijuana recreationally and medically. Don't give anyone the satisfaction of feeling correct in their beliefs that marijuana should be illegal. Live the way you want to live, sure. But be responsible, and know that your actions dictate much more than you think. The best way to help others to acceptance is to make yourself acceptable, not an exception.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By The Seattlest Stoner in Arts & Events on August 22, 2011 9:00 AM

Comments [rss]

AnnOnaMice

It's commendable, to all the wrong people, that you "don't go to Hempfest."

Do you REALLY feel that it is detrimental to the movement? Do you really think all the attendees are burnouts?

Well, you JUSTIFY the opponents of legalization. Maybe if so many "button-down" COWARDS weren't afraid to be seen in public at the event, and they ALL "came out," then the opponents YOU empower wouldn't only see the " tie-dyed wearing, patchouli-reeking, damn-the-man burnouts, with little intention of contributing to society..." I'm sure they are sorry that they work the not-so-important jobs that support your glorious existence, like restaurant workers, retail personnel, and janitorial services that just don't cut YOUR mustard of "contributing.

I'm sure that only 40 some years ago, there were some liek you, but afro-american that said "these dashiki wearing freaks and bowtied muslims..." You get my point.

Imagine if all the fearful had gone to all the Hempfests, Freedom Rallies, and pot parades 20 and 30 years ago. Dressed in your UNIFORM. Maybe we wouldn't need to have these rallies anymore. Maybe the laws would all have been changed by now.

"That people like myself, who are not in pain, have to pretend to use
marijuana "medicinally" for it to receive even a modicum of protection
and legality is ridiculous..." The Institute of Medicine recently released a report stating that over 100 MILLION Americans suffer from some sort of chronic pain. Glad you can belittle the suffering of almost 1 in 3 people of the country you live in.

" I smoke a joint..." Your DAMN STRAIGHT you do! You think anyone is going to sell anything dank to dinks like YOU? You don't deserve anything but something you'd have to smoke a joint of... meanwhile MY peeps at the Hempfest are taking a couple of hits off some Trainwreck or some wicked Kush, and they don't need a "joint" because three hits is blowing them away.

It's okay that you don't go to hempfest. First, Barry Manilow isn't invited to play, and second, it's not a party for "your kind."

You're a "wide stance" pot smoker, who would give it up and deny it in a second if someone cared to figure you out.

Hanna Brooks Olsen

Wow, you sure inferred a lot of information about this post without actually reading it. That's a skill, to be sure.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

Also jeez dude, quality over quantity (re: that third to last paragraph)

Sarah Anne Lloyd

Even people who will readily admit smoking pot hate being around Juggalos and the stench of patchouli.

Marc Myers

Perhaps the author should be less concerned about labeling people who have chosen an alternative lifestyle as "burnouts". Though all of us may not wear button-down collars and work behind a desk all day, most of us are hard-working people, parents, and taxpayers. I would hope that America has moved beyond the days when people are condemned for the cut of their clothes or the length of their hair. Hempfest has become one of the few public traditions for such people.

If you want to see more "straight"-looking people at Hempfest, to represent the true social range of cannabis users, it would make sense for you to attend.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

Maybe if it were an event that catered to all kinds of potsmokers, more of a spectrum would attend. Most people in Seattle like pot, so why is it that the Hempfest crowd is so niched?

Jillian

Regardless of which side of the political fence we stand I think we can all agree that our laws should cause more good than harm.

So what good do we get from the federal marijuana prohibition and what harm does it cause? Some would argue that its greatest benefit is in that it "sends the right message" to our children, but it's hard to really see that when marijuana's classification in the same schedule as heroin sends a message to our children that heroin is no more dangerous than pot. That is a dangerous message to send!

And since we can't stop millions of Americans from using marijuana and since we allow no legal supply of the stuff, how do the harms caused by maintaining zero legal supply amidst massive and unrelenting demand weigh up against the benefits we receive from the prohibition? These harms include 800,000 needless arrests each year, 40,000 brutal murders at the hands of the Mexican drug cartels in just the last five years and drug dealers drawn into our neighborhoods looking to sell marijuana to our children.

If we really do believe that our laws should be beneficial and logical then we must demand an end to the federal marijuana prohibition and insist that our supermarkets be given the right to legally sell marijuana to adults at prices too low for the drug dealers and cartels to match.

Don Mayfield

This is a great article so thank you for writing it. I have used marijuana recreationally for 40 years and have never had a problem with it. I too graduated with mostly "A"s and went on to a great career as a computer programmer after serving 4 years in the Marines. It is important for people who think marijuana users are stupid useless losers to learn that their dentist, the successful businessman who lives across the street from them, or maybe the person that just got promoted over them just might use it in private! In my early years, my use of marijuana temporarily led to my using other drugs like cocaine and LSD, but that was just because the illegal dealer talked me into it! If marijuana was legal and available to adults this would never happen.

donny1020

Similar to my thoughts, when I see an article where a "doctor" is handing out mm recommendations for 200 bucks, and pictures of minors getting high, and pictures of grownups with their baby in a stroller getting high, (each identified by name), maybe this just feeds the anti-pot assertion that marijuana makes you stupid.

Donna Raphael

I don't go to Hempfest because I basically want to slap all the Juggalos. If anything sets back the image of Hempfest and stoners, it's Juggalos.

Hanna Brooks Olsen

Could not agree more about the Juggalos.

Michael Novak

i just liked to say i agree but if most people refuse to even think about marijuana unless its medical i think that we should plunge deeper into the abyss just to show them we mean business and they can't ignore us not anymore. man im willing to have prohibition wreck the whole country if people don't open up their ears to the beneficial facts of pot. i don't expect the people who make money off prohibition to grow some ears so they can put their reading glass on but those who don't have a pile of cash dropping into their job security should. and really who every said law enforcement is the only job were cuts are unthinkable unless the economy forces it to be. although there would still be other illegal drug and other crimes. sorry dea agents get a new job if your fired or i'll start calling you a lazy dea agent. man that guys lazy well he is a narc.