WEDNESDAY. APRIL 20, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3A
▼ PROFILE
Pair protests pot-puffing prohibition
BY NEIL MULKA
nmulka@kansan.com
KANSAN STaff WRITE
Thomas Trower stands alone near Ninth and Massachusetts streets.
It's a nice Saturday night — the Commerce Bank thermometer a few blocks away flashes 68 degrees. Dozens of people are out, many of them honking and yelling at Trower.
Every honking car and hollering person receives an oversize thumbs-up approval from Trower.
Trower is the man who holds the "Honk For Hemp" sign every Saturday and Sunday on Massachusetts Street.
It's a sign of protest that he and Mark Creamer, a 58-year-old Lawrence resident, have made since 1991.
In total, the duo has spent more than 1,400 hours of their lives on the corners of Massachusetts Street.
It's a protest for justice. Creamer said.
"It's a smarter choice for me to choose marijuana than alcohol," Creamer said. "It's better for my body. It isn't just that I'm threatened to lose my job and my freedom because it's a better choice. I thought America was about the right to choose."
Trower has a simpler reason.
Trower has a simpler reason.
"I want to grow my own."
Trower, a 54-year-old Lawrence resident, said. "The alkies have theirs, I want mine."
Right now its illegal to grow cannabis sativa or cannabis indica — also known as hemp or marijuana — or use it for its intoxicating effect.
It's legal to import goods such as hemp seeds, paper, oil and food. These items don't contain enough delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical that produces the "high" marijuana smokers feel.
Honk For Hemp evolved from Gulf War protests in 1990 and 1991. It was during those protests that Creamer met Trower, who
was handing out copies of Jack Herer's The Emperor Wore No Clothes, a collection of essays about the politics of marijuana.
While the protests faded away, Trower stayed every Saturday, protesting for the legalization of hemp. In the meantime, Creamer had his own pro-marijuana protests Tuesday nights in front of City Hall.
"At some point we decided to work together." Creamer said.
And Honk For Hemp was born.
Instead of making one large protest with 2,000 people, they wondered 1,000 protests of two men would make a larger impact.
Rachel Seymour/KANSAN
"I think we surpassed it in 2003." Creamer said.
On Saturday there were more than 70 honors during the one-hour period Creamer was holding the sign.
At least one of the duo can be seen year-round waving at passing motorists.
Thomas Trower, 54 year-old Lawrence resident, promotes the legalization of marijuana at Ninth and Massachusetts streets on last Saturday night. Trower says that the drug is illegal mainly because it's viewed as immoral.
"I'm not very mobile,but I'm warm." Trower said.
During the colder months Trower wears multiple layers of thermal underwear underneath his "hemp uniform," a complete outfit made of hemp, from shoes to hat.
Breaking the law
One instance sticks out in both Trower's and Creamer's minds.
Other than honks and hollers, Creamer and Trower get flashes.
A few years ago, a car full of people stopped at the light and one of them yelled out, "Fucking smoke pot!"
"We did have a girl expose herself from a limo." Trower said. "Evidently she raised her top. I didn't see it happen, I was turned away. She got a ticket for it."
Two police officers on foot
Lawrence police giving out tickets isn't an unusual sight for Trower. Through the years he has seen people busted for yelling obscenities or overhonking.
pulled them over on suspicion of yelling obscenities, Creamer said. Then the police noticed open containers and after searching the car they found a pipe and a bag of marijuana.
The lesson learned?
"If you're going to break the law, only break one law at a time." Creamer said.
In Kansas, possession of marjuana is a misdemeanor. Punishment is up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine for a first-time offense.
Creamer isn't a stranger to breaking the law. In 1989, Creamer smoked a joint in the Lawrence Police station to protest George H. Bush's budget increases to fight the war on drugs.
Creamer received six months in jail for what he calls his "stunt."
"The DA suggested that standing on the corner is protest, not smoking marijuana," Creamer said.
What's the impact?
Despite the fact that Honk For Hemp has been around for more than a decade, Creamer
ponders how much of a difference the protest has made.
Eric Benavidez, Topeka senior, said, "It's effective in raising local awareness. But I think it's too localized to get policy changed."
When he was in college in the late 1960s, Creamer asked himself what would happen first: the fall of the Iron Curtain or the legalization of marijuana.
"It's scary to see how long as it's gone on." Creamer said.
Creamer chose marijuana, but when the Curtain dropped in 1989. marijuana was still illegal.
In 1989, Creamer thought marijuana would be legal in five years.
"I'm beginning to worry that it won't be legal in my lifetime," Creamer said.
It's 2005, and marijuana is still illegal.
But Trower vows to keep protesting until hemp is legal.
"We're ornery and not leaving," Creamer said "I'm not sure what we're doing except to keep hope alive."
HEMP FACTS
—Edited by Jesse Truesdale
- Industrial hemp is bred to have less than one percent THC and be high in fiber. Marijuana used for recreational drug use has three to 15 percent THC.
- Was used to make sails, riggings, canvas, ropes, clothing and paper.
♦ Thirty countries current-
It grow industrial hemp
• it is illegal to grow
hemp but legal to
import
import hemp products.
Wild marijuana plants grow in 58 counties in Kanasas and all but four states in the United States.
- In 2002, The Drug Enforcement Agency seized 193,644 kilo-grams of marijuana.
In 2004, 3,853.9 kilograms of marijuana was seized.
SOURCES: Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, USDA Plant Database, Drug Enforcement Agency
ON THE RECORD
♦ A 19-year-old KU student reported to Lawrence police that someone had stolen and used his credit card between Feb. 14 and April 8. The card was stolen from the 1800 block of Naismith Drive. Total charges amount to $1,027.25.
- A 19-year-old KU student reported to the KU Public Safety Office that $132 in cash and a CD player faceplate worth $187 were stolen between 10:30 p.m. April 16 and 2:50 p.m. April 17 from KU parking lot 72, the East Burge Union lot.
- An 18-year-old KU student reported to the KU Public Safety Office damage to the left side of her car about 11 p.m. April 17 in KU parking lot 104, the East Ellsworth and McColllum Halls lot. Damage was estimated at $1,000.
ON CAMPUS
- Valery Terwilliger of the geography department will give a lecture on "Environmental Research in Ethiopia" at noon today at Alcove F in the Kansas Union. Call 864-3745.
- Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandra Praeger will speak on "Insuring the Uninsured" at 12:30 p.m. today at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
- Steve Case of the Center for Science Education will give a lecture on "Kansas Science Standards" from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. today at Room 247 in Joseph R. Pearson Hall.
- Student Union Activities will sponsor a speed dating social from 6 to 9 tonight at the Hawk's Nest in the Kansas Union. The event is free.
Note: The University Daily Kansan prints campus events that are free and open to the public. Submission forms are available in the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Items must be turned in two days in advance of the desired publication date. On Campus is printed on a space available basis.
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