Hempstalk 2007 permit

After my three-minutes at the microphone at City Council this morning, four representatives of the Hempstalk 2006 festival spoke about the unfairness of the denial of their request for a permit from Portland Parks & Recreation for this year’s event. About twenty supporters filed out of Council chambers after the Citizen Communications. I was impressed with their testimony and cause, and I’ll tell you why.

But first, an observation. The topic of marijuana is difficult to discuss without drawing many smirks and almost as many passionate expressions of outrage, depending on the demographics of participants in the discussion. Many adults in our society in the US tried pot at least once in their younger days, and are honest enough to admit it, often with a “kids will be kids” smile. There are many uses for hemp products, but mention the “Hempstalk Festival” and for many the immediate image conjured up is something like a sixties rock music free-love/free-drugs experience/movie. Talking about a hemp festival is like talking about an underwear manufacturers’ convention – hard to do without descending into 8th grade humor. Let’s all try, OK? Because both medical and recreational use of marijuana are important issues in our community.

I’m a firm supporter of Oregon’s medical marijuana law. I believe the drug is misclassified in the federal system, being categorized Schedule I with heroin and LSD instead of a lesser designation such as Schedule III with codeine and anabolic steroids. Its inclusion in Schedule I designates it more dangerous than cocaine, in Schedule II. People over 21 may consume tobacco cigarettes and alcohol legally in this country; the effects, addiction potential and hazards of marijuana are similar in many ways, yet pot use is illegal, except medicinally. That doesn’t make sense. I think laws and government actions about marijuana are influenced by both public perceptions and personal experiences. I went to a meeting of Oregon Green Free last year, and was very impressed with the people attending and the information presented. Their next meeting is at Tigard Town Hall, 13125 SW Hall Blvd Tigard, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 19.

Recreational use of marijuana is serious, too. Today’s marijuana has 75% more active ingredients than in the 1970s. While it doesn’t cause respiratory system cancers despite having 50% more tar than tobacco cigarettes, research has found increased risk of mental illness with marijuana use, including heightened likelihood of schizophrenia. That alone is a significant reason not to treat its use as a harmless leisure activity, to this psychiatric nurse. And marijuana is an anti-emetic (which is one reason it’s good for medical users), so it inhibits vomiting thus increasing the risk of acute alcohol poisoning when people use it while drinking too much.

Listening to the proponents’ side of the story this morning, the City’s denial of the permit for Hempstalk 2007, seemed based on prejudice and misinformation. The speakers said there was no unlawful drug use at their festival in 2006, and that those arrested for alcohol possession were incidental users of the park, not festival participants.

Commissioner Saltzman’s office staff and those in Portland Parks & Recreation (PPR) saw it differently.

A PPR memo states:

“On Saturday 9-9-06 Portland Park Rangers visited the event site and saw numerous individuals and groups of persons, smoking marijuana, and drinking alcoholic beverages in the event area of Waterfront Park. Park Rangers wrote approximately twenty park exclusion notices including 12 for “Possession of a controlled substance,