A thousand grams?

That's not a joint. THAT's a joint.

Not that I've been in years, but Hempfest is now officially dead to me.

why do you think they call it dope?

John Davis: The world's most stoned security state loving rightwing asshole.

PS he's cute, if dopey.

Both of them are behaving like 12-year-olds. They should both be grounded for a week.

So is this about "reform" or working on his personal (commercial) brand?

Guinness-style records are cute, but while Hempfest may be a zone of tolerance, why work to push those boundaries to cartoonish levels? Certainly, if you're going to stage a stunt, it's a good idea to discuss it with the organizers first. It's not entirely an extralegal zone and thuggish as it sounded, they do have an investment in trying to keep a handle on what goes on at their festival.

Hempfest is the worst thing in the world for hemp. It's embarrassing. It's clearly corrupt, or stupid, or both...hard to tell.

Smokers/tokers/bakers will be so much better off without it. Each year its existence does nothing but fuel the argument against weed and legalization.

He should have pressed assault charges for her placing her hands on him. What a bitch.

What law was this guy breaking? How is a free event in Myrtle Edwards Park a "private event"? These Hempfest assholes clog up a public park and a public bike trail for three or four days in the middle of summer every year, and then tell the public what they can or cannot do there? That's bullshit.

#firstworldproblems

Hempfest... Umm, no. Thanks anyway. Their anti-502 message has doomed them forever in my mind. Ain't. Never. Going. Again.

I was wondering what the hempfest organizers were going to do to top last year's ridiculousness. They didn't manage too, but they were certainly childish. And once again, it all comes down the the profit margins of the organizer's businesses, not any sort of freedoms for us.

I prefer the other Hempfest at Cal Anderson every night.

This just cries out for a guest-post by Brian Laoruangroch (pronounced Loren-roach, "my friends all call me Roach").

@_@

I just wanted to see Endino's Earthworm.

Pathetic troll is pathetic.

Loggenbarf or whatever his name is is a classic bullshit artist and attention whore. If you watch the video, you see the Hempfest people being perfectly reasonable, while the dormroom semanticist blubs idiotically about "free speech" and "way can't we have the meeting now". Fuck him. His "company" is a joke too; "La Cubana blunts" my fat ass. Davis might not be my favorite person in the world but he and Whitson are trying to run an event, not cater to the publicity needs of that dork. They have my sympathy here.

Ah, yes, pot heads.... obsessing over something trivial & blowing it up way out of proportion.

I, of course, have never smoked pot. But my friend Ernie Lindquist has. He smoked a ton of it, and he told me this story-- once he was *very* baked, and hit upon an incredible realization that explained *everything.* Life, the universe, etc.He knew he would forget it, so he wrote it down. He found the note a few days later, and the message he wrote was: "There is a funny smell in the room."

@20--"There is a funny smell in the room."

Yes, that pretty well describes it all.

@10, when you have a use permit for a public space it becomes your space for that time. Someone vending, performing, busking, or whatever, has limired rights defined by your use. Maybe you don't like Hempfest but it's the same rules for every street fair, festival, parade, etc that go on everywhere, all the time.

Dave Dammit: I'm glad I have your Grape God x GDP in my garden but god damn you are a toolbag. You couldn't help me and my lady find a place to get water and now I see you pulling this. Seriously dude, what the fuck?

He didn't care about dehydrating people, he had to "get some senator out of here". Stay classy, Dave.

@22, precisely. And they also have insurance, probably some ridiculous amount of it considering how close they are to downtown. I know that some years back the increasing insurance liability almost shut down the Fremont Fair. Some nimrod setting fire to a 20-foot-long roll of paper on a field of dry grass without prior arrangements is probably not the brightest of plans. Major outdoor event planning on a scale of thousands of times larger than your average wedding is more complicated than just a bunch of stoners trying to remember which hand their lighter is in.

@19 "you see the Hempfest people being perfectly reasonable"

I'd agree with you if you hadn't said that. I'm familiar with dave, and here you see him acting ridiculous. Screaming all kinds of obnoxious stuff back. Suggesting this would be fine if they gave some money, arranged it, and "bought a booth". Go play the video back, he clearly implies they could have arranged things if they would have provided some compensation.

And then you continue on to speak about pot smokers by using bullshit stereotypes. You seem like great people...

@10: "What law was this guy breaking?"

Exceeding the I-502-set possession limits officers were attempting to educate stoners on at the same event?

@26: Being tired of attention whoring is not defending the event management company in every context.

@26, why is it bullshit to suggest that if you want to hold your own event inside someone else's private event, that they should do like everyone else there and buy a booth for it, sign the insurance documents, sort out the legal issues, etc. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS.

I neither know nor care if Dave is a good guy or not; that's not interesting, and it's not germane to the question at hand.

If it had been me, I would have been MUCH less reasonable. I would have had the creep arrested for trespassing the instant he spoke the magic words: "isn't that what marijuana is all about?" And you think I'm the one retailing stereotypes?

The ultimate Freudian slip:

"Davis followed through on his promise, as Hempfest security volunteers kicked into high fear upon hearing that the "World's Largest Joint guy" had entered the park."

Volunteers kicked into high "fear"? I assume you meant "gear", but "fear" is probably better.

Here's what this nitwit Laoaurghaburger says on his website:

"Through the new JOBS act signed into law in 2012, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, we will hold an IPO sale of stock for $50 million in Fall of 2013. Sorry, but at this stage, we are only scheduling roadshow presentations to high net-worth accredited investors and angel groups."

Uh-huh. Underwritten by Goldman Sachs, no doubt.

@27: A Port of Seattle cop said what he was doing was not illegal. He wasn't busking or vending either. The old dude with the scarves "performs" at every permitted event in the city. Why can't Big Joint Guy do his thing?

So what's the limit for what Hempfest organizers can use as an excuse to kick you out of their free permitted event in a public park? Personal dislike shouldn't be enough.

Can't wait until Costco runs them all out of business.

@33 Except in classic Costco fashion, the only package size available with be a year's supply for a family of 9 rabid stoners: the legal maximum 72 oz. of "marijuana-infused product in liquid form," i.e. 95% hash oil, 5% soybean oil.

@32, your limit is what the organizer says it is, unless you want to be a test case and ask a court it's easier to just move along.

This guy advertised his mini-event making a strong case it's a performance. He's asking for donations and soliciting assistance and goods. That's vending or busking. He could have been impeding or disrupting others. The organizers were well within reasonable discretion to ask him to leave.

I've kicked out Hempfest promoters from an event before. They were belligerently arguing with the Jesus people on opposite sides of the street. When vendors complained of disrupted business, we asked them to go separate ways. The Hempfest promoters got uppity about it, so we had SPD remove them.

@9, relax. It's obvious that she touched him in a "hey bro, let's talk this out" manner.
The organizers seem like spineless hypocrites for refusing to support 502, but from the video, it looks like they (and the cop) handled this situation calmly and respectfully. They're responsible for the event, their attorney advised them to disallow this stunt and they were willing to let the guy stay if he wouldn't do the thing they asked him not to do (so Doug, he wasn't kicked out just because they disliked him). As Fnarf pointed out, an event like this requires an immense amount of time, effort and money. Why would the organizers risk legal problems to let one selfish guy promote himself (for free)?
Also, I hope the old scarf guy never dies and shows his mole-riddled torso at Seattle events forever.

The hempfest security dude was a bit of a mall cop but the organizer and cops were super reasonable.

"Look kid, we don't want to risk getting shut down. But hey, if you want to talk come join us. Come speak about possibilites. Just don't roll that joint for now or at least do it outside."

His response "HEY THANKS FOR CREATING ATTENTION FOR ME. WHOOO!! WORLDS LARGEST JOINT! GIVE ME YOUR WEED!"

Well I was there, from the time he entered the park the security was on his ass. I walked along side him on tell he reached his unrolling, From the time the security got on him he had several of his rights violated. His freedom of speech was taken from him, his freedom of movement was taken from him while he was walking, the long haired security officer assaulted this kid many times. He was held back by his arms, he was chested bumped at least 9 times, he had a cell phone camera shoved in his face. When I advised the guard what he was doing he started fallowing him instead, I was a security officer for 18 years. And yes I am in the top video in the back. So to the security guard if the kid ever needs me in court for something on this he has my business card. Oh as you called me the bold guy,, And the name is "THE MANN"

I think the problem with Hempfest could be all the stoners who show up.

FYI the mole ridden guy's name is Boe Odyssey

I was at the festival yesterday (just went on a whim) and everyone I met and talked to were wonderful. One speaker (after the guy from the police departments spoke) said that lighting up would be an acceptable form of civil disobedience and unless you were a minor, you could feel free. The "World's Largest Joint" was on the official program for 3pm on Saturday, but it didn't specify where it was to be. But it was hot and I left before 3pm... I wasn't very interested in watching this joint being rolled, but it seemed novel to me. Oh...and while I was sitting on the grass listening to the speakers, a girl walked up to me and two other people and let rain 6 beautifully rolled joints onto our heads. I'm a 52 year old businesswoman...and I am not your typical stoner....but the "typical" stoners? None of them were typical in my eyes.

I can't be the only one more surprised and almost offended that they gave the security guards real metal badges, and encouraged them to act like swinging dick rent-a-cops at bellevue square or something here.

all the focus is going on these two manchildren, but i think that fact is pretty disturbing and worthy of discussion in and of itself.

Unlike our Safety Patrol, the members of Traffic and Ops speaking in this video are not trained de-escalators. This incident occurred at the worst place possible: a bottleneck at a key intersection of the park with a high risk for crowd crush.

[PIC] Aerial rendering of pinch point: http://imgur.com/jyFrFyq

To remain in compliance with Hempfest 2013's permit, SFD must feel that crowding issues are being managed effectively. What's more, we don't earn any points with the City passing a bonfire joint around in an uncontrolled setting.

@32: "@27: A Port of Seattle cop said what he was doing was not illegal. He wasn't busking or vending either. The old dude with the scarves "performs" at every permitted event in the city. Why can't Big Joint Guy do his thing?"

Are you seriously comparing shoving more than an ounce of weed into a joint with scarf guy's scarfing? Sure, everybody's seen his ween, but there isn't a federal ween protection agency unless you count the GOP and their held committees. One cop also doesn't speak for the entire department and all others, who may not feel as "chillax" about flaunting the limits set last year.

Oh man, love this. This guy is just a massive selfish, paranoid prick. No matter what, everything he interacts with, will always be from a stand point of someone trying to take something from him or show him up.

Reason number 55523423423 why I don't go to hempfest. It's not even about pot legalization anymore, it's about controlling the message and only approving things they care about as privileged people. They don't ever step out of their box and everything in the universe revolves around their personal pot usage and why their own usage should be more legal than all the other people who smoke pot. There's also the point in the video where the security guy yells, "Hey look at the feds over there with a perfect view of the whole park, capturing everything on video".

"Oh I see you're running for office, we have video proof you were doing quasi-illegal things in a Seattle park a few decades ago, good thing we don't have to keep a record of keeping a record of this, or we couldn't use this to control your future political career." - Thanks Hempfest!

HEMPFEST ATTENDEES! for real YOU MEAN KNOW ONE BACKED UP Brian Laoruangroch! if smokers act like a family the entire crowd would be outside that park in less then 1 MIN!!!! DAVIS your a SHMOCK!!!! your negative aura critical and unhealthy behaviour will be your biggest downfall watch and see you made one person feel humiliation now look how many comments show your for what you are! need i mention security guards only ever intimidate peeps like the bullies and the PIGS. POMPOUS BUARACRATS

@47: You may not have noticed, but that stunt had jack and shit to do with "med taking".

@50 What facts in this article, specifically, do you take issue with. I suggest you let the board elections issue lie—Hempfest certainly does not wish to publicly rehash what happened with that, and it's not my desire to salt old wounds. I'm with Hempfest organizers in calling this the year of healing, despite your continued name-calling!

Can someone point out to me where the cops said what he was doing was legal?
Seattle Port Police: "If you're outside this Hempfest, it sounds lto me like what you're articulating would be within the limits of the agreement."
The agreement, in this case, that he can do whatever he wants OUTSIDE Hempfest boundaries. I didn't see anywhere that someone said what he was doing was legal. Hempfest is an increasingly difficult and expensive event to organize every year, and most of the people whining would NEVER consider getting off their stoned asses and actually HELP. This douche not only wanted to skirt state laws, but Hempfest regulations. They are trying to keep the permit process accessible, especially since so many local merchants put up a fuss about it and tried to get it either moved, or cancelled. The STATE law is up to one ounce. Semantics...call it 'owned by many people', but when you get caught with over 2.5 lbs. of weed in YOUR hands, that makes it in YOUR possession. (the Santa Cruz joint was 2.5 lbs, and also got confiscated, which means this would have had to contain more than 2.5 lbs.) That puts YOU in possession of far more than an ounce. The video doesn't show what took place beforehand, and the fact that this guy knew he was not welcome to just barge in without a vendor permit, and still continued to do so, I don't think anyone should fault Hempfest staff. Don't like it, get your ass in there and work to make the changes YOU want...or shut the fuck up about it!

@52: " I didn't see anywhere that someone said what he was doing was legal. "

A good point. It's like he's trying to play Mommy Hempfest against Daddy LEOs.

That's why I'll have nothing to do with Hempfest. They're fucking greedheads and idiots. If I see that guy I'll slap him.

No wondewr Ben and Dominic have nothing more to do with this anti-freedom organization...