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you write for national review, it seems appropriate to note several conservatives have been outspoken about the need to change this. holder had a great first step on the prosecutorial side. do you think there s any hope to get in and change the federal laws? i think the odds of seeing legislation happen in congress anytime regarding this is fairly slim. i think what s more likely, we ll see regulatory changes that will keep pace with what s going on in the states. when we talk about the federal, state level law discord, it s important to bear in mind for all practical purposes, it s incredibly difficult for the federal government to enforce marijuana loss without state s help. if states op out of enforcing them, for all practical purposes it s legal. you don t hear about anyone going to jail for smoking even at hemp fest. there were countless people smoking and nobody was subtle
justices may be inclined to push back against the obama administration s position. the justices will hear oral arguments on this case in october or november. heather: all right. thank you so much. jon: all right. police in one city apparently, heather, know the way to a pot smoker s heart. heather: isn t that nice? so sweet. jon: break out the munchies. some of seattle s finest armed with doritos for hemp fest. it s the first time it s been held since washington state legalized marijuana last fall. they handed out snack bags with reminders of the dos and don ts of the new law. we re getting people to talk about pot. the nifty way to get the word out. don t drive while high. don t give pot to people under 21. jon: the operation comes with its own name. operation orange fingers.
you know, the funniest thing i heard at hemp fest over and over was that as far as the amount of consumption, there was really no change. like you said, if people want to smoke pot, they re pretty much going to smoke pot. whether or not a state legalizes it or bans it isn t a huge contributing factor. so it seems to be pretty normal. betsy, the other thing you talk about is how surprisingly tense and adversarial hemp fest was. talk to me about the break down between the recreational marijuana smokers and the medical marijuana community. yeah, well, hemp fest is an organization never actually endorsed by the ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana use. there was concern within the medical marijuana community that allowing for these recreational stores to open would be problematic for them and it would be advantageous because the tax benefits to the state are greater. we have yet to see those concerns get played out. it seems to be largely resolved.
jazz fest. i ve been there. it s amazing. and germany s oktoberfest. but seattle s hemp fest? yeah, that s a thing. and the national review s roaming reporter betsy woodrouf is back with us after spending the weekend at the world s largest event advocating pot reform. she writes about her experience in her latest article quick hits from hemp fest. cute title. welcome back to the show. the question is, how high did you get? no, no, that s not the real question. you don t have to answer that. but the purpose, of course, of cannabis reform is not for more people to get high. people in america can get high pretty much any time anywhere they want in terms of being able to acquire drugs. the point is to not have people go to jail for nonviolent public health choices. so the lens is going to have to be long term whether this is working out, but you ve been to washington. you see how things are going, where they re experimenting with legalization there. how s it going?