Los Marijuanos Lights Up Jack Herer Memorial Stage - Hempstalk 2011

Hempstalk 2011 crowds Saturday estimated over 50k - this year's video focuses on Oregon's leading spokesman for cannabis, our own Dr. Phillip Leveque.

Hempstalk 2011 photos and video by Tim King and Bonnie King

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Portland's grand annual marijuana/cannabis celebration event was held last weekend under sparkling skies and warm summer vibes. Bands included Los Marijuanos, The Real One and the Stoney Girls, and far more.

As in previous years, organizer Paul Stanford of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation and his team, staged the event at Kelly Point Park on The Columbia River, in Portland, or 'Potland' as it is known to this crowd.

The crowd seemed to swell in excess of 50,000 on Saturday, as all access roads to the park ground to a halt, which means the access road was insane, with cars parked miles away from Kelly Point. The crowd didn't seem to mind though, utilizing shuttles and roaming golf carts that move large numbers up and down the trails to the event.

One thing is certain, you will never find a nicer crowd. They range from young to old, all walks of life; many are strictly medical patients who never imagined themselves needing or using marijuana, and today they embrace the herb and the context of its use in saving our society.

I don't state that lightly, but there is no competition to cannabis when it comes to uses that range from industrial to healthcare to fuel, fiber, the list is endless.

And even if it is debated that cannabis is not the strongest natural fiber known to man, it is certainly a contender for the title.

In my life as a news reporter and photographer I have been to nearly every type of event possible, political and otherwise. I have never seen a group more centered around love and peace that the pro-cannabis activists.

At the center of the action is our own Dr. Phil Leveque, who may be the most experienced and distinguished marijuana advocate alive today. His friends who have passed on, pioneers like Author Jack Herer and Doctor Tod Mikuriya.

Today Dr. Leveque is an extremely popular personality known by endless thousands in Oregon, California, Washington and beyond.

Dr. Phil Leveque is Oregon's most well known voice for cannabis on the west coast, maybe anywhere.

Sadly, after he helped Oregon originally achieve its medical marijuana law in 1998, which went into effect in 1999, the Oregon Medical Board was in pursuit and eventually they were able to take this honorable man's license to practice as a physician away. It truly was a travesty of justice.

Beyond his role as an Osteopathic Physician, long before he went to medical school, he was a medical school instructor.

As a Professor of Pharmacology, Dr. Leveque trained the first medical doctors in Tanzania and Uganda. His wife who the doctor lost several years ago, was a Holocaust survivor.

Never losing an ounce of popularity, Doc gets a kiss from Los Angeles Radio Host Melissa Balin.

In Uganda they adopted a son who is Muslim and today, is one of the most successful business owners in Los Angeles.

The story speaks volumes about the diversity of Dr. Leveque, who is also a Forensic Toxicologist. There are only a handful of such people alive on any given day in the United States.

And as if that weren't enough to qualify him as a legend in this world, before any medical training of any kind, he was one of the U.S. Army Infantry soldiers in WWII who helped defeat the Nazi's.

On one day alone, Phil Leveque captured 26 German officers who were holed up in a commandeered French house in the countryside that he was sent to investigate.

Books have been written about the exploits of Patton's 1st Army and the brave diehard ground pounders who helped free Europe from the oppressive shadow of the Nazi and fascist regimes.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 82 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

Salem-News.com Marijuana Coverage

Where and How to Smoke Legal Marijuana without Fear of Arrest in the U.S.

Eulogy of a Great Warrior: Hoss Plourde

The Ripple Effect How Marijuana Laws Are Impacting Society

Audit the Audit

Welcome Home, Tom

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

Name:

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

---

malcolm kyle September 17, 2011 12:23 am (Pacific time)

Due to the tyrannic and mindless actions of prohibitionists, tens of millions of people world-wide (both users and non-users) have been either killed, maimed, incarcerated or had their lives very seriously disrupted. Prohibitionists are solely responsible for an immense increase in violent organized crime, an AIDS Pandemic and a grave abuse of human rights on a scale barely witnessed in human social history.

Corporate greed and individual bigotry have accelerated us towards a situation where all the usual peaceful and democratic methods needed to reverse the acute damage done by prohibition no longer function as envisaged by the Founding Fathers of our once great and free nation. Such a political impasse coupled with great economic tribulation is precisely that which throughout history has invariably ignited violent revolution.

In order to avert what will surely be a far more violent situation than we are all presently experiencing, there appears to be just one last avenue left to us - Jury Nullification.

Jury Nullification is a constitutional doctrine that allows juries to acquit defendants who are technically guilty, but who don’t deserve punishment. All non-violent drug offenders who are not selling to children, be they users, dealers or importers, fall into this category. If you believe that prohibition is a dangerous and counter-productive policy, then you don’t have to help to apply it. Under the Constitution, when it comes to acquittals, you, the juror, have the last word!

The idea that jurors should judge the law, as well as the facts, is a proud and vital component of American history.

The most shining example of Jury Nullification occurred during the shameful period in US history when slavery was legal. People who helped slaves escape were committing a federal crime - violation of the Fugitive Slave Act. Jurors would often acquit, even when the defendants admitted their guilt. Legal historians credit these cases with advancing the abolition of slavery.

No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer; only an end to prohibition can do that. How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution? - When called for Jury Service concerning any non-violent prohibition-related offense, it is your moral and civic duty to VOTE TO ACQUIT!

“To function as the founders intended, our republic requires that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
~ THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to William Stephens Smith, November 13, 1787.

To avoid such carnage and turmoil on a scale not seen in this land since the 1860s, we may have just one last chance.

VOTE TO ACQUIT!

---

Friend of Jack September 16, 2011 10:58 pm (Pacific time)

Cool story guys! Always good to hear positive video vibes from the community.. Keep up the good work!

[Return to Top]

---

©2025 Salem-News.com. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Salem-News.com.