Rachel Seymour/KANSAN

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.

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’s unjust 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.

“I want to grow my own,” Trower, a 54-year-old Lawrence resident, said. “The alkies have theirs, I want mine.”

Right now it’s 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.

“I think we surpassed it in 2003,” Creamer said.

On Saturday there were more than 70 honks 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.

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.

“I’m not very mobile, but I’m warm.” Trower said.

Breaking the law

Other than honks and hollers, Creamer and Trower get flashes.

“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.”

Lawrence police giving out tickets isn’t an unusual sight for Trower. Through the years he has seen people busted for yelling obscenities or over-honking.

One instance sticks out in both Trower’s and Creamer’s minds.

A few years ago, a car full of people stopped at the light and one of them yelled out, “Fucking smoke pot!”

Two police officers on foot 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 marijuana 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.

Creamer chose marijuana, but when the Curtain dropped in 1989, marijuana was still illegal.

“It’s scary to see how long as it’s gone on,” Creamer said.

In 1989, Creamer thought marijuana would be legal in five years.

It’s 2005, and marijuana is still illegal.

“I’m beginning to worry that it won’t be legal in my lifetime,” Creamer said.

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.”