Prob 215

Possession of a Controlled Substance

You have to admire the presistance of people who insist upon thier rights, even in an unfriendly envirornment.  Novenmber 5th 2011 at Bo Diddley Community Plaza in Downton Gainsville.  Appearing after an 11 year abscence, drawing in a couple hundred people. 

Is there no depth to which asshole cops won't sink? At the 1995 Gainesville Hemp Fest, police arrested federal medical marijuana glaucoma patient Elvy Musikka for smoking cannabis she received from the federal government.

Since the last Hemp Fest, several states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, and supporters will try again in the 2012 Florida legislative session to get passage of a bill allowing that here, said David McKinney of the Florida Cannabis Action Network. 

“We are hampering research and at the same time denying people what we know to be good medicine,” McKinney continued. “We've got support from the Democratic Women's Club of Florida and we have support from some folks in the Florida Legislature for medical marijuana, who have introduced a bill. I think it's going to be a huge election issue.”  "Hemp has been cultivated for thousands of years, " Watkins said "Here were still fighting this same stupid battle"

 In 1937, the U.S. government passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which placed it under control of U.S. Treasury Department regulations. Production of hemp gradually faded in the U.S. after that.

Mike Geison, one of the organizers of the original Hemp Fest, said he believes marijuana will eventually be legalized.

“Of course I'm delighted we have Hemp Fest again and I'm delighted to be here,” Geison said. “I know who our allies are. I think we can achieve our goals in a short time.”