Partners / Sponsors

Here is an outline that shows what the various Hempstalk sponsorship levels include:

Oregon NORML and the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp as "Oregonians for Cannabis Reform" will be campaigning for Initiative #2 in 2010 that would re-legalize cannabis and hemp in Oregon. This initiative will not only bring Oregon back to our roots as an America run on industrial hemp, but we will join the movement to bring about change in the global energy, food, and fiber industries toward a consistent and renewable source, healthy for our planet and our society. Oregon agriculture will thrive, and the potential is too great to ignore any longer.

Hemp prohibition is the result of propaganda by the petrochemical, cotton, and wood-based paper industries, who foresaw competition from hemp. Virtually anything that can be made from petroleum can be made from hempseed and other vegetable oils at a much lesser cost, and hemp fiber is many times more durable and resourceful than cotton or wood-based paper. Let's restore our right to grow this resourceful crop!

Though tobacco and alcohol cause hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, cannabis is completely nontoxic and has never caused a single death in thousands of years. Yet tobacco and alcohol users can avail themselves of a regulated market, while cannabis users are subjected to arbitrary prosecution and punishment by enforcers of this unjust law. Our work shall continue to end this and we shall prevail.

The most resourceful crop on earth, cannabis yields industrial hemp for canvas, oil, fiber, and paper among other things; a harmless medicine for gravely ill individuals; and a source of recreation for millions of people around the world.

The organizers of Portland's third annual Hempstalk Festival faced long odds in putting together the 2007 event. The previous location - the Downtown Portland Waterfront Park - was already booked. The City Parks & Rec Department also refused to issue a permit to use a different park, citing unsubstantiated claims that minors were drinking beer in the park (which could not have been purchased at our event) and widespread marijuana smoking was taking place in the park (not in public view and only by medical marijuana patients).

But thanks to relentless work by the organizers, their legal team, and advocates from the ACLU, Portland Hempstalk became a reality. The event once again took place on the weekend after Labor Day, but this time, at the Sellwood-Riverside Park just south of Portland.

There were about 10,000 in attendance over the two-day event who came to listen and dance to some of the best bands in the Northwest, headlined by Los Marijuanos. Oregon NORML and CRRH were prime sponsors of the event. Madeline and Russ both spoke at the event, and the Oregon NORML booth played the DVDs of "Busted" (which explains civil rights in a police encounter) and the documentary "Grass" (which chronicles the history of marijuana prohibition).

Pictures from the event can be found in the Oregon NORML Gallery.

We the People: Hemp to save the Planet 04:04

D. Paul Stanford on Industrial Hemp & Medical Cannabis 09:10

Elvy Musikka Speaks About Medical Cannabis 06:13