Pubdate: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 Source: Santa Cruz County Sentinel (CA) Copyright: 2000 Santa Cruz County Sentinel Publishers Co. Contact: PO Box 638, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 Fax: (408) 429-9620 Feedback: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/news/edit/let.htm Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ Author: Marina Malikoff, Sentinel Staff Writer Cited: The Compassion Flower Inn: http://compassionflowerinn.com/ BED, BUD AND BREAKFAST OPENS IN SANTA CRUZ Christening the "tokers" deck, medical-marijuana advocates freely passed around victory joints, celebrating the opening of this one-of-a-kind bed and breakfast in downtown Santa Cruz. "Let's medicate," said one gray-haired woman before lighting a tiny black pipe and taking a long drag. Others, old and young, plucked sweet-smelling buds from their personal stashes and rolled joints at the debut of the Compassion Flower Inn, a "bed, bud & breakfast" that caters to medical marijuana users and open-minded travelers interested in alternative lifestyles. The Compassion Inn smokers joined tokers across America on Thursday, April 20 4/20 in celebration of a counterculture holiday known as "420," the stoner New Year's. Red-eyed tokers inhaled in groups large and small, public and private, indoors and out, marking a ritual that originated at San Rafael High School in 1971 by a group of teen-age potheads that would meet at 4:20 p.m. to get high. While the scene at the inn was not entirely unlike a giggling dorm-style 70s pot party, the mood here was decidedly reflective. "It's so wonderful to have it be so open," said Isadora Karcher, a Felton resident attending the inn's grand opening that began at - you guessed - it 4:20 p.m. Karcher and other guests touring the 216 Laurel St. establishment couldn't help but let a mischievous snicker slip when they saw the tiled marijuana leaf mosaic in the master suite's bathroom, complete with hemp toiletries and towels. "This is a new age," said Daniel Duncan, eyes darting around the 135-year-old Victorianis half-million-dollar face-lift. Too new perhaps for Santa Cruz police, who were unaware hemp hotel existed. Police and city officials are still grappling with the finer points of the city's ordinance allowing medical marijuana use passed earlier this month. "Everybody is jumping into this before it is finalized," said Deputy Police Chief Jeff Locke, a co-author of the law. "I can see both sides of it. From their standpoint, this (fight to legalize medical marijuana) has been going on for years." The ordinance allows city-recognized medical marijuana associations to provide the drug to qualified patients. The inn's proprietors say they are not in the supply business, but simply are providing a sanctuary for those who use marijuana to stave off suffering due to illnesses such as HIV and cancer. Guests must provide their own pot and a physicianis medical marijuana certification to "partake of their medicine in a safe, supportive environment." "We've been in the medical marijuana movement for a long time," said Maria Malleck-Tischler, who co-owns the inn with partner Andrea Tischler. "We've seen a lot of friends die from AIDS. We've also seen that medical marijuana made their last days easier. We feel a lot of compassion and that is why we came up with this idea." Business owners in the building next door have not objected to the venture, Malleck-Tischler said. Aside from their Web site, the couple has done virtually no advertising. But the inn's five rooms, which range from $125 to $175 per night, are booked through July. Guests - the curious and the suffering - are coming from as far away as New Zealand, thanks to the overwhelming media attention the three-year labor of love has received. "I wasn't prepared for that," Malleck-Tischler said of the coverage. Neither was Chas Sneyers, who had a view of the action on the toking deck from his bar stool inside the Poet & Patriot Irish Pub. "I live a block away and read about it in the New York Times," Sneyers laughed. "If it helps people, I think it is great." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake