It’s pot-festival season in the Pacific
Northwest. The sunny days of July and August bring legalization rallies
in Seattle, Olympia, Tacoma, Portland, and other cities; Olympia
Hempfest opened this season’s slate on July 27–28 at Heritage Park.
Organizers were blessed with a beautiful day on
Saturday; on Sunday, the haze finally lifted around 4 in the afternoon.
Between 20 and 30 vendors offered their wares (T-shirts, books, smoking
accessories, jewelry, munchies). Also on hand was Don Skakie and his
I-584 crew, gathering signatures for real marijuana legalization (guess
what, I-502 isn’t).
Due to technical difficulties with the sound
system, there were no music or speakers on Saturday until well into the
afternoon, but once things got started, they got started in a big way.
Local favorites The Cody Foster Army, in particular, rocked the stage
with their brutally pounding beats and primal scream–style vocals; it
was the musical highlight of my day.
The level of musical talent was almost uniformly
excellent—noticeably more so, in fact, than has been the case at the
much larger Seattle Hempfest. Could this be because Olympia Hempfest
talent booker “Gym Bags” had an actual entertainment budget with which
to work, rather than being forced to ask bands to perform for free?
Whatever the reason, kudos for the great music!
One speaker on Sunday afternoon captivated the
crowd with her simple message. Julia (she prefers to go by her first
name only) maintains the website petermcwilliams.org and the Facebook Peter McWilliams tribute page.
A traumatic brain injury survivor who
doesn’t herself use marijuana, she became fascinated by the work of
McWilliams, a leading self-help author and poet from the 1980s and ’90s
who, after being diagnosed with both cancer and AIDS, also became an
outspoken medical-marijuana activist.
McWilliams’ medical-marijuana grow operation was
raided by the feds; he wasn’t allowed to use California’s
medical-marijuana law—which made it legal for him to grow his own
cannabis—as a defense.
The seriously ill writer ended up dying, choking to
death on his own vomit, once the only nausea medication that worked for
him, cannabis, was taken by the government. His senseless death in
2000—one of thousands due to the federal government’s war on
marijuana—remains one of the most horrifying examples of the
heartlessness of federal marijuana policy. Famed conservative political
commentator William F. Buckley—despite their political differences, a
friend—wrote just after Peter’s death, “Imagine such a spirit ending its
life at 50, just because they wouldn’t let him have a toke.”
Back at Olympia Hempfest, Julia held the crowd
spellbound; this reporter saw more than a few tears flowing. “Why am I
here on this stage today talking about some guy who died 13 years ago?”
Julia rhetorically asked the crowd. “Why does it matter?”
“Because there should never be another Peter
McWilliams,” Julia said, her fist clenched, her voice shaking with
emotion. “Because people are still dying due to the federal marijuana
laws.”
Thirteen years after those laws resulted in the death of one of our best and brightest, it’s time to make that change.
Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals, tokesignals.com, an irreverent, independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.
tokesignals@seattleweekly.com
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