Pubdate: Fri, 15 Oct 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: D1, continued on page D15
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Jeff Weiss
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Americans+for+Safe+Access
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

EVENT TO ROCK THE JOINT

At the Annual Cypress Hill Smokeout, Patients Can Legally Smoke Marijuana.

By its very name, the Cypress Hill Smokeout, a single-day rap and 
rock music festival, is engineered with a red eye toward the 
narcotically inclined. But this Saturday, for the first time in the 
event's dozen-year history, medical marijuana patients will be 
permitted to roll it up, light it up and inhale. And for those who 
don't have a card, a doctor will be on duty to issue one.

The arrangement is the result of a pact between the board of San 
Bernardino's National Orange Show Events Center and Smokeout 
promoters Guerilla Union and Cypress Hill. It will allow for a 
dedicated consumption area to be set aside for patients possessing a 
valid doctor's recommendation.

In creating a safe zone for smokers, the concert, which will feature 
performances by Incubus, Deadmau5, Erykah Badu and two dozen others, 
places itself in the middle of a political issue that reaches its 
apex on Nov. 2, when Californians will weigh in on Proposition 19, 
called the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. The 
measure would allow anyone 21 or older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

"This is about more than just offering a place where people with 
medical marijuana cards can smoke marijuana freely," said Chang 
Weisberg, the founder of Guerilla Union. "We have a marijuana expo 
where we promote activism, compassion and education. We believe that 
medical marijuana is the gateway to responsible tax-regulated 
consumption. Big alcohol, big medicine and big tobacco fan a lot of 
negative stereotypes regarding cannabis, and we're trying to dispel 
them." He adds that the agreement is the result of Guerilla Union's 
successfully executing the Smokeout and two other music festivals, 
Paid Dues and Rock the Bells.

The decision comes at a time of shifting social mores toward 
marijuana, with 14 states currently allowing medical consumption for 
patients who have obtained a doctor's recommendation. Earlier this 
month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law that reduced marijuana 
possession of under an ounce from a misdemeanor to an infraction. .

"The idea was [Weisberg's], but we needed to make sure that there was 
a list of do's and don'ts that would be followed," said Dan Jimenez, 
the general manager of the National Orange Show Events Center. "No 
alcohol will be served in the consumption area, and we'll have extra 
security guards on hand to ensure proper guidelines are being followed."

The rules and regulations were drawn up with help from Americans for 
Safe Access (ASA), an Oakland-based organization that bills itself as 
"the nation's largest organization of patients, medical 
professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and 
legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research." The ASA 
will be in charge of verifying potential entrants who want to access 
the smoking area.

"Contrasted with Northern California, Southern California has been 
slower to embrace medical marijuana and its consumption in these type 
of environments. We're trying to reassure people that this can be 
controlled and regulated -- it won't be a smokeout free-for-all," 
said Don Duncan, the California director of the ASA. "We'll have 
volunteers and staff members screening patients. We'll have safety 
monitors. There's a possibility that someone may try to game the 
system, but we have an experienced crew who are capable of spotting 
people with fake recommendations."

Though the San Bernardino Police Department has not condoned the 
agreement between Guerilla Union and the Orange Show, it has agreed 
to honor patients' rights to use medicinal marijuana as granted under 
1996's Proposition 215. There will continue to be undercover 
narcotics officers at the Smokeout, but Lt. Gwendolyn Waters, the 
Southeast District commander of the city of San Bernardino, says that 
they will restrict their focus to other illicit substances. No 
marijuana will be permitted to be sold on the premises.

"The Orange Show is private property, so it's not within our rights 
to prevent a medical marijuana consumption area. We don't condone or 
consent to it, and we don't think it's a good idea, but it's legal by 
law and we'll do everything in our power to make sure it goes off 
safely," Waters said. "Its success will depend on the users and 
attendees of the concert. If they want to ensure that this will 
happen in the future, they're going to have to be responsible and 
behave respectfully."

A certified card-carrying medical marijuana patient himself, B-Real 
of Cypress Hill viewed the decision as a partial culmination of a 
lifetime of efforts devoted to the medical marijuana and legalization cause.

"This is something that we've been working toward since we started 
the Smokeout. It's a dream come true to get headliners like Incubus, 
Manu Chao, Nas and Damian Marley at a venue where medical patients 
can smoke as they see fit," the South Gate-raised rapper said. "We're 
seeing the times change and people's views evolve. No longer are they 
as willing to accept what the government has to say about marijuana. 
People are more informed these days, they're more tolerant and more 
accepting than they've ever been." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake