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Saturday is Hempfest in Moscow and to many of you this means that a bunch of hippies and stoners will gather in East City Park to sell bongs and pipes to each other, listen to tye-dye wearing jam bands and spread the message of peace, love and dope.
If this is what you think of Hempfest, you aren’t entirely wrong, but you are very far from right.
Hemp advocacy is not recreational drug use advocacy.
Medical marijuana support is not support for illicit drug dealers peddling dope to junior high kids so they can get lit and jump off houses.
But let’s be honest with each other, please. The Hempfest crowd falls into an unfortunate stereotype that often overshadows their message. It isn’t their entire fault, either. Some people just can’t get passed the swirl of colors and acoustic guitars in order to hear about hemp fiber being made into clothes, shoes and paper.
Some people see glass pipes on display in a public park and wonder why the cops aren’t being called.
Some people can’t stand the thought of others having a good time and being politically active at the same time.
Some people need to just chill out and smoke a bowl.
Marijuana is not cocaine, heroin or meth. One puff on a joint will not kill you or turn you into an addict.
From my own experience, that first smoke probably won’t do anything to you or for you.
Drugs are not for everyone, I understand this. There are those who don’t like red meat or coffee. There are folks who jog for health and those who won’t run for anything.
It’s a personal choice and it should be left that way.
I can hear the argument in my head. “You do get to choose to use drugs. You can choose not to or you can choose to partake and suffer the consequences, like jail.”
That doesn’t sound like a choice any reasonable person should be faced with, but it is. As a reasonable person, I can choose to have a single beer and go home or slam down seven or eight shots in two hours and then try and get home.
Reasonable people understand there are limits. Sitting at home to get high and watch Comedy Central should be no more illegal than staying home to get drunk and watch football.
You should be allowed to make that choice.
You should also be allowed to choose to support a cause like Hempfest without accusations of being a low-life pothead with no direction in life.
This isn’t a call for Hempfest attendees to change their lifestyles to please the masses. Instead, it’s a call for the masses to look beyond the tye-dye and see that there are still people who get together because they believe in a cause, no matter how they may be perceived for believing it.
This weekend, smoke it if you have it or don’t if you don’t want to. No one will look down on you for passing the doobie on to the next person.
You get to make that choice.
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