Prime C
Defender of Dank
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In the meantime, the event’s organization shifted to committee. Activist Charmie Gholson of “Michigan Moms United” wanted to intensify the focus of the 2012 Hash Bash on the harsh effects that a failed “war on drugs” has on families. She was quoted on CBS Detroit as denying the event was about getting “stoned,” adding “I see nothing funny about hundreds of thousands of Americans being arrested and put in handcuffs every year and getting criminal records and being denied the right to vote and denied the ability to get housing and jobs, that’s not funny to me. I don’t do giggly stoner jokes at all.” Working with campus activist Nick Zettell and local activist Chuck Ream, they opened the 2012 Bash with local musician Laith Al-Saadi performing the Star Spangled Banner, with California activist and medical marijuana leader Steve DeAngelo of the Harborside Clinic headlining the speakers.
Gholson said the crowd was rapt, and marveled at the UM-provided sound system. She asked at the outset “Can you hear me?” and saw hands raised as far away as State Street. She observes progress in the movement, noting that “before 2008 everything was black market. Now every legislator in every state is tripping over themselves to get on the bandwagon of reform.”
Gholson returned in 2013 to co-emcee with Mark Passerini, and the speakers’ lineup included local elected officials and former High Times “Ask Ed” columnist and cultivation guru Ed Rosenthal. But with Brook returning this year, the responsibility for planning speakers is less clear. Says Nick Zettell, an organizer and the former president of the UM Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, “I worked with Adam a couple years ago when he kind of took me under his wing, and we have met recently a couple times to discuss organization for 2014. We have proposed a lineup of speakers, and I will help to secure the speakers who will be attending.”
Brook believes the focus this year should be local ballot initiatives for legalization, and responses to the “behavior of elected officials in Michigan House and Senate and the horrible proposed legislation gutting the medical marijuana act.” Zettell adds that “It’s important to educate people about how they can get involved and what they can get involved in. The topic is so expansive – legalization hits people in so many different ways – that it’s important to provide inlets for pursuing engagement into this realm.”
The 2014 Hash Bash will be on Saturday, April 5, beginning as always at “high noon.” The day before, the charismatic Rosenthal will lead a seminar at the Sheraton from high noon to “4:20,” which is expected to sell out at $40 per ticket (www.arborside.net/events). Also Friday at the Sheraton will be MiNORML’s spring meeting from 7– 9:30pm. Matt Abel notes that will provide an opportunity to “renew friendships and membership dues” as a prelude to attending Hash Bash the next day.
Abel, an attorney who specializes in cannabis cases, states that MiNORML “wants to legalize marijuana. We believe taxation should be the same as sales tax on anything else, 6%, and that anything else will drive it back underground. Hemp can be used for food, fuel, and fiber, and it’s time to unleash the economic potential of this product. Marijuana is not harmful to the body physically; there’s very little evidence of harm to adults. We don’t advocate that minors use cannabis or any other substance, but it is less harmful than alcohol – and in fact a much healthier replacement for alcohol or tobacco.”
Abel mentioned a friend’s prediction that Michigan will be one of the next five states to legalize marijuana, but says “I’m not sure I agree,” noting Michigan’s gerrymandered legislature and efforts to stymie progressive dispensary legislation. He also discussed the financial realities of obtaining ballot signatures. An all-volunteer effort in 2012 obtained only 50,000 signatures, “well short” of the minimum 300,000 required. Estimating a cost of $1 per signature, plus the costs of staff, Abel calculates “We need 300-500,000 signatures, so we need a million dollars. Either a large donor has to step forth, or” – he reflects a bit wistfully – “perhaps I need to learn to be a proper fundraiser.”
For the 13th straight year, the Hash Bash is accompanied by the loosely affiliated Monroe Street Fair Hash Bash Festival, kicking off at the same time two blocks south of the Diag. The Monroe Street festival features music, speakers, and unbridled fun until 6 PM, with an unofficial after-party at the Blind Pig for the duration of the evening. And for early risers, there will be a protest against drug enforcement raids in Michigan at 10:30 AM at the Ann Arbor Federal Building.
The movement has come a long way since John Sinclair’s 9 1/2 to 10 year sentence.
For those interested in Hash Bash history, and an abundance of archived photographs and articles, Rich Birkett has maintained an impressive site at freedomactivist.net/hashbash.html#archive, and I am grateful to him for this rich background.