HEMPILATION

In a memorable collaboration that drew fierce criticism from anti-drug conservatives, HIGH TIMES, NORML and Capricorn Records brought some of the best names in music togther to raise money for marijuana legalization. Nearly $200,000 was raised by the all-star compilations HEMPILATION: FREEDOM IS NORML (1995) and HEMPILATION 2: FREETHEWEED (1998).

HEMPILATION: FREEDOM IS NORML featured songs by the Black Crowes, Cypress Hill, Blues Traveler, 311, Sublime and Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers and 11 others.

HEMPILATION 2: FREETHEWEED featured Willie Nelson and George Clinton in their first appearance together on an album. Other acts included Mike Watt, Dar Williams, Wayne Kramer, Gov't Mule, Everything and Spearhead.

The goal of the HEMPILATION series was simple: to raise funds and awareness for NORML, the nation's oldest marijuana legalization group. Please support NORML by joining up, talking to people, getting involved.


Here's what people the HEMPILATION 2 performers had to say the insanity of current drug laws and law enforcement:

Willie Nelson:

"There's nobody alive that doesn't know how I feel about marijuana."

"It's just so ridiculous that a product with that many uses has to made into a political thing. It's a shame. Not only could our farmers pay their bills and get out of debt, but this whole country would find a new way to environmentally protect ourselves by getting rid of all the petrochemicals that are killing us."

George Clinton:

"When they have to pay $4 billion for the drug war, somebody gets that. Drugs are incidental in this shit. They hype that shit to death."
[cont.]

Hempilation [cont.]

Tom Brewer (of Brewer & Shipley):

"It's absolutely ludicrous that pot is still illegal. Absolutely outrageous."

Warren Haynes (of Gov't Mule):

"NORML is a just cause. It's ridiculous in this day and age for somebody to be going to jail for smoking pot or possessing a little pot."

"People have had their heads in the sand for far too long. There's no way you can tell me that alcohol is better for you than marijuana. It's all about money and whose pockets it's going into."

Wayne Kramer:

"Reefer has been around since the beginning of time and always will be. The drug war would be funny if it wasn't so tragic. Basta!"

"Look, no one ever stuck up the 7-11 because the needed the money to buy more reefer. OK, maybe they wanted the double chocolate chip cookies."

Mike Watt:

"I want to be able to farm my own small crop for my personal use without having to be criminalized for it. I want the same trust the government has in my using alcohol responsibly to be extended to mota."

Wayne Healy (of Freddie Jones Band):

"Cops should be out arresting murderers instead of chasing around dope dealers on the corner who are selling dime bags of pot, or worrying about some 30-year-old dude who's growin' dope in his closet."

Laurie Stirratt (of Blue Mountain):

"They're punishing a lot of small-time marijuana dealers harshly. It's time it was legalized."

Vic Chesnutt:

"I just needed to go on the record as saying we must change the laws. I hate being a criminal. I use marijuana for medical purposes and creatively. I use it sometimes if I have writer's block. That's medicinal too."

Jeff Fowlkes (of Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise):

"If they would legalize it, you'd have a lot less drunk driving accidents and a lot less speeding tickets."
[cont.]

... [cont.]

Jimi Haha (Jimmie's Chicken Shack):

"I've never been in a fistfight in my life. Why have I never been in a fistfight and why have all my drunken friends had broken jaws and gone to jail?"

"Legalizing hemp is something I believe in. I'd like to be at the point where the only clothing I have is made of hemp."

Gordie Johnson (of Big Sugar):

I'm seeking to get a permit from a provincial government to grow hemp as a textile crop. You can't get high on hemp. You'd have to smoke a joint the size a telephone pole. That's a lot of hemp.

Dar Williams:

"We need to save the planet and we need to do it ourselves, because it's obviously not in anybody's marketing plan. Hemp could be the cornerstone of a lot of activity around wresting that control back to things that are sustainable for the planet."

Kay Hanley (of Letters to Cleo):

"The female voice is much needed in this dialogue. I know lots of women who smoke pot, but I don't know a lot of women who are politically involved."

Craig Honeycutt (of Everything):

"It's a freedom issue. You've got to let people be responsible for themselves. You've got to give it a shot.

Michael Franti (of Spearhead):

The more people become tolerant of herb, the more freedom will eventually happen. It's like civil rights. You have to expect that there will be battles."

Trent Sommers (of Hank Flamingo):

"Shit, man, there's nothin' wrong with drinkin' a little beer and smokin' a little dope."